Independence Day: Counterattack
by Dark Cronos
Summary: A year after the War of 2016 humanity is trying to rebuild the fallen cities, their lives and getting prepared for a counterattack against the aliens that caused so much pain. With the arrival of the Resistance the Sphere has assembled it seems the moment is getting closer. Will humanity be able to lead the Resistance and defeat the Aliens or is our extinction guaranteed? UPDATED!
1. Prologue

Last thursday I saw Independence Day Resurgence and I must say that even though is not being well received and is not making much money I liked it and also it has encouraged me to write more fanfiction after a year of nor writing anything, I will also like to tell the people following my other stories that my two other major stories of Star Wars and TMNT will be continued. That being said I hope you enjoy this new Story.

LD: I do not own Independence Day all the rights and merit go to their rightful owners.

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Jake woke up as Patricia began to move on her sleep, throwing a quick glance at his fiancée he knew the girl was having a nightmare. He sighed it was nothing new, for the last year the girl had been having recurring nightmares about the deaths of her mother and father, well not the actual deaths but she experienced them dying in different ways. David had offered her to seek professional help, even Doctor Marceaux had offered her help, but Patricia had refused choosing to confront her own demons on her own, with little help from even Jake, who was only allowed to confort her when she woke up from one of those horrible nightmares.

"Jake!" Patricia shouted as she rose up clearly panicked as she looked everywhere for him. Jake looked confused for a second she had never screamed his name on one of her nightmares. Putting his arms around her soothingly Jake sushed her.

"Right here babe" he whispered calmingly as she held onto him for dear life. They remained like that for a few seconds before she began calming down. "Another nightmare?" he asked kindly and rhetorically. Patricia nodded as she sand her hed into his chest and tightened her grip on him.

"Yes but this one was different." She told him, "In this one you died, you died in the trap set by the queen when we launched our retalliation attack."

"I'm right here with you babe" he told her as he kissed her head. "We won I escaped that trap andI'm not leaving your side."

Those words seemed to calm Patricia a little. "Sorry to have woken you." She said softly as she sobbed a little.

"Shush, it's ok babe everything is going to be fine." He comforted as she wrapped his arms more strongly around her and laid with her on the bed. "Now we need to sleep, tomorrow is gonna be a very long day."

"You are right" she said as they snuggled closer together and a comforting sensation of safety and relief washed over her body.

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David Levinson stood in front of a screen as he was on a videoconference with main UN HQ in Geneve, especifically with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Bob Johnson, a British-American man on his early fifties, with light blue, greying hair sharp facial features and a military complexion he had built to enter the british armed forces and later the SAS. He'd served during the war of '96 and survived the second destruction of New York, where he had been Britain's embassador to the UN, and had been chosen by the UN to perform a really difficult task one even more difficult than the first time, the reconstruction of the destroyed cities and plan a counterattack against the aliens that had attacked Earth twice now.

"So are our "Friends" arriving tomorrow as scheduled?"Johnson asked.

"The sphere is keeping in contact with them" David replied. "According to her last information they entered our solar system an hour ago and will arrive in 6 hours"

"Good" Johnson said. "The sooner we can begin our counterattack the better."

"The Sphere estimates that we will not be ready for that until 2019 at the best." David said and Johnson made a face of displeasure, like most of the surviving humans Johnson was eager to get back at the aliens and like many of those people he considered the preparations were taking too long to complete. "The Sphere says it would be better if we completed at least the rebuilding of our defenses, according to it the war we are about to declare will take years or even centuries to be won completely."

"How is the building Luna 2 and Luna 3 moon bases progressing?" The Secretary General asked when he heard about the defenses.

"Luna 2 will be operational within 6 months but Luna 3 is a little behind schedule." David said. "We might even have to increase the budget for it."

"I will see what the Security Council and the General Assembly think." The Secretary General said. "What has President Adams said about it? Have you mentioned it to him?"

"I have, he try to get the budget increased if necessary, as you know the reconstruction of the USA's East Coast it's proving challenging even with the UN funds." David said.

"What are our options if we can't increase budget on the Luna 3 Base?" Johnson asked.

"According to the sphere our Planetary Defenses were weak and our bases insufficient during the Second attack." David said. "We will have to increase our bases on the moon and Mars for the time being, there are no other options."

Johnson sighed and nodded. "As I said I'll see what I can do with the budget. But I can't do much else, the reconstruction of the US is proving challenging as you said but the reconstruction of the European West Coast is not much easier and for the time being many within the UN want to focus on the reconstruction."

"I understand" David said even though he really didn't. The Second attack had made the UN and Humanity as a whole expecting miracles from the ESD, for example organizing a devastating counterattack against the aliens when they didn't have the resources or the manpower to do so, but when it came to the resources David had to fight for every last bit with the UN and locally the US government still with General Adams as it's head wasn't much more helpful while naturally prioritizing resources for the reconstruction, they were trying to do everything at once and that could lead to delays in both fronts and frustration of the General public. "Then I'll contact you again tomorrow."

"Until then Doctor Levinson." Johnson said and the screen cut to black. The few ESD operators in the Control room looked at him as if they wanted to express their support and David was thankful, because even if their responsibilities were different he knew that in their own way they were doing all they could to perform beyond their capabilities and what was asked of them in order to keep the ESD functioning and guarantee humanity's survival with few resources and not much pay.

"Wake me up when our visitors arrive" He said as he prepared to head home. One of the operators responded with a "Yes sir" as David exited the room. Walking through the wholes of the ESD's HQ David came across few members of the personnel who strolled around from place to place performing various tasks. After exiting the main building he mounted on a jeep where a military drived, Jimmy, if his memory didn't fail him, drove him to the housing area of the base.

"Long night sir?" Jimmy asked trying to make small talk during the minutes the travel took.

"Actually yes" David replied. "I'm just realizing I should have remained a satellite tv technician, that way I wouldn't have to deal with bureaucracy at all."

"Well at least tomorrow the aliens the sphere was talking about are coming" Jimmy said. "And they are going to help us kick some more alien butt. If you were still a tv guy I'm sure you wouldn't have the chance to meet them."

"I suppose you are right" David said chuckling, it was good to find some positive things about his post sometimes. A few minutes later the jeep stopped in front of David's house which he shared with his girlfriend Catherine, a french psychiatrist who'd gotten together with him after the 2016 attack. "Good night Jimmy."

"Good night sir" the soldier said before driving the Jeep away.

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Dylan looked through the internet at the new monument being built on the city of Washington, which was currently being rebuilt itself, for the victims of the Second alien attack. Apparently the big shots in the governments were planning an enormous ceremony to inaugurate it or so most of the newspapers said. The thoughts of her mother's demise rushed back into his head causing him the same level of pain and helplessness as the first time he had seen her fall to her death when the building collapsed after making sure a baby and a mother had been safe from the destruction.

"What are you doing?" a feminine voice spoke from behind him. Turning around he faced a very attractive brunnete woman with piercing green eyes. It had been a conquest from the bar a few miles from the base, taking advantage of his status as a hero which he secretly didn't believe he truly deserved as he hadn't been able to save the most important woman in his life, however these one night stands were the only things that could help him through some of the tough nights when memories refused to let sleep claim him. They had had sex for an hour and she had fallen sleep for a while afterwards, nothing serious.

"Then why don't you come to the bed for a... third round" She said seductively as she approached him and put her arms around him and kissing his neck repeatedly.

"I'm sorry but tomorrow I have to be up early." He said trying to be as gentle as possible. "I've already called you a taxi." Her expression changed but not to one of anger as it had happened with some of the girls he'd slept with in the past year, in some occasions he'd had to call the Military Police to get them out of the base, more of a disappointment it was clear that she knew this would happen but would have liked at least another round with the now "Legendary" Dylan Dubrow-Hiller.

"Well it's been fun" she said in a more normal tone. "I suppose I will get dressed then." Leaving him alone again to look at the article on the tablet. He wondered if he would be able to attend the inauguration of the new monument, perhaps that would be able to bring him more closure than these women from the bar. But with the arrival of the Alien Resistance the following day their work would surely double or triple in preparation for their counterattack. He decided he would see when the monument was finally done.

"Well I'll be leaving now then." The girl told him. Dylan didn't look at her as he nodded and heard her advance towards the exit and his door open and close. Normally he accompanied the girls who slept with him to the entrance but he wasn't feeling all that fine that night, perhaps it was because what was about to happen that what would happen tomorrow would help humanity avoid a third attack, that they would finally bring the fight to the alien, or perhaps just because of the news about the building of the monument to honor the victims, that his memories were more present than ever in his mind and he just couldn't be bothered with courtesy rules with this girl. After a few more moments eyeing his tablet Dylan sighed and closed his eyes, he really needed to sleep, he should probably open his eyes and get to sleep but before he could perform the task as his brain was telling him to he felt his consciousness slipping away as he fell asleep on the couch.

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Rain Lao observed her opponent as he observed her both waiting for the other to make the first move. After a few seconds that for rain seemed like minutes the man launched his first attack, a spinning kick directed to her head. She blocked it with her arm although his opponent almost broke her guard, it was a good kick and her adversary followed it with with a punch expecting to get her by surprise, however Rain was ready and moved swiftly to the side and and grabbing the arm of her attacker she twisted it and put it behind his back as she moved to the same position.

"Give up" She told her opponent who struggled to liberate himself from her grip.

"Never" he said defiantly.

"Give Up" She said more slowly and dangerously.

"Is that how you treat the rest of your sparring partners?" Her opponent asked with a hint of humor on his voice.

"Give Up" She added as she twister his arm with more strength.

"Ok ok" The man protested. "I give up!"

Rain smirked and released her opponent who fell on his knees panting. The man turned to face her with an accusatory look and Rain didn't see her opponent anymore but her boyfriend Charlie Miller.

"Seriously you could hold back a little" Charlie added. "You are supposed to like me."

Rain chuckled as she helped him up and pecked him on the lips. "You know I do like you. And because I like you I want you to be prepared in case you need to use close quarter fighting." She said. It was true she like the boy inf front of her, something Rain couldn't have predicted when she first met him when she arrived at the first Moon Base a year ago just before the second Alien attack and she was honest not even during their first few outings, which Charlie insisted on calling "Dates". However his surprisingly tenacious and determined personality eventually won her over although him understanding her losses and his support as she grieved for her uncle helped a lot as he showed her he was one of the kindest men she had ever met.

"If any of the people I will face in close quarters combat are as strong as you I will do my best to avoid it." He said laughing along with her and pulling her closer for another kiss.

"If I recall correctly it was you the one who asked me to teach you hand to hand combat" She said with a smirk. "Once I'm done teaching you it will be your rivals the ones running away from you."

"Can we get to the bed please?" Charlie asked faking a whine.

"Perhaps we should." Rain agreed taking one of his hand and leading.

"And perhaps we could..." He tried to add sugestively.

"I'm sure you are too tired and beaten up for that." She cut his sentence with amusement on her voice. "Plus tomorrow we have to be up early."

"And you are worried that my prowess on the bed would keep you awake..." He began to say but a slap to the back of his head stopped him doing so. "Sorry ma'am." he said making Rain chuckle as they went to their bedroom.

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Dr Okun observed the data the Sphere had delivered to him, to the ESD HQ's computers to be more precise, that week. No matter how many years humanity would pass fighting this war together with the resistance they wouldn't be able to repay the sphere for this information, not in a million years. Some of the main information she had given them had been crutial for the beginning of the Earth's reconstruction. A machine he proudly called the "Atmosphere Maker" had been developed and installed in several ships which now patrolled the atlantic, with the intent of repairing the atmospheric damage suffered by the planet. The UN had been really scared when they'd learnt of how the atmosphere was in the area where the ship had landed but to anyone with any basic scientific knowledge it shouldn't really be a surprise. Also the Sphere was teaching them how to protect the Earth's core from further attacks and repairing the damage done by the Harvester.

The surprise was that they were actually able to try and rebuild zones like the East coast or Europe's west coast, Asia had been devastated but reconstruction was easier there, or that the death toll wasn't actually higher than 1000000000 casualties, which was terrible but still better than extinction. Humanity had just survived a potential extinction event and was coming out of it stronger thanks to that metallic sphere.

"Dr Okun" the robotic voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yeah?" He asked looking away from computer screens and looking at it.

"You've been awake for the last 72 hours. My acquired knowledge about your species tells me you should sleep at least eight hours every twenty four to be in your best condition. You should rest." The Sphere told him.

"I appreciate your concern but I'm fine. I slept through twenty years of my life I believe a week without sleeping won't kill me." He said with a small smile. "Plus I'm waiting for something."

"What is it that you are waiting for?" The Sphere asked and the Doctor smiled wider as he looked at him.

"I've sent Mr Rosenberg on a very important mission to Mr. Umbutu's rebel camp to pick up some results from further analysis of the computer of a downed ship from the war of '96 performed by some of my colleagues, I'm hoping to get some information about this aliens something even you don't know that will help us win this war." Okun replied.

"Is Doctor Levinson aware of this mission?" The Sphere asked.

"Vaguely, David has given me some liberties when working with you and analyzing alien technology." Okun said. "He himself is not stranger to disobeying orders or conducting independent operations." He added with a chuckle.

"I recommend you to be cautious when dealing with their Technology." The sphere said. "But why have you sent Mr. Rosenberg there. As far as my knowledge of him goes he is not a scientist. Why didn't you have them send you the information."

"That is correct but when working with scientists our own ego can get in the way of the greater good. I wouldn't trust them not to withhold information if they thought they could profit from it on their own, sad I know, almost unbelievable but still true. I warned Umbutu about it to keep that from happening but Rosenberg it's an extra precaution."

"The resistance is arriving tomorrow perhaps we could help you on endeavour." The Sphere said.

"You and your resistance allies will already provide us with a way to fight those bastards without destroying our planet in the process. Perhaps this is something we could do for you." Okun argued

"You will be leading our fight against our common enemy." The Sphere countered. "I will communicate with the ship stating your request for help."

"Thank you" Okun finally said.

"It is not a problem. Whatever they are the things we find on that computer they are of interest to all of us if it bring us closer to defeating our common enemy" The Sphere concluded. Okun nodded as a call from Rosenberg appeared on the screen of his computer. Okun accepted the call and the image of Rosenberg appeared. He was dressed in a uniform of the ESD combat personnel like he had since the battle against the queen. Although he had continued his wourk as an accountant and helping David with the budget, he'd enrolled and gone through basic combat training and was actually awarded the rank of sargeant for his actions protecting the Sphere.

"Doctor I've arrived at Umbutu's camp." The accountant said. "The Scientists have given me all the information they have gotten so far."

"How much have they extracted?" Okun asked.

"Twenty terabytes of data and information but according to them that accounts to just 0,3% or so." Rosenberg explained. "It seems they encountering alien firewalls and protection programs at every turn so they are proceeding with extreme caution. Also some of the data and information they have gotten are data and information we already had."

Okun sighed, thankful that he had accepted the help of the Sphere. "When the Resistance arrives the Sphere has told me it will arrange for them to help with the extraction of information."

"I understand. Although do you think it is wise?" Rosenberg said with concern on his voice. "The people here have suffered a lot more than the rest of the Planet because of the wars against the alien, I'm not sure those Resistance fighters would be welcome."

"Umbutu knows about the Sphere and the arrival of the Resistance." Okun said a little confused. "Why would he not welcome the Resistance?"

"Umbutu is not the problem." Rosenberg said. "In any case the problem is also his."

"What the hell happened?" Okun not really liking being in the dark.

"It seems some warlords benefitted from his absence a year ago. The planted the seeds of disent among his people" Rosenberg said. "Not everyone is loyal to him and there have been a few attempts on his life as well as some attacks on the scientists as well."

"Perhaps you should explain the situation to Dr Levinson clearly this time Dr Okun." Sounded the voice of the Sphere.

"Yes perhaps I should." Said Okun with a clearly worried expression before sprinting out of the lab.

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	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Earth

Well here is the first actual chapter of the story since the previous was the prologue. I know it's been a little late but I'm actually on vacation and not in my own country so I've actually had to look for time to finish it up. I do hope you enjoy it and I'll try to have the next chapter ready earlier this time.

LD: I do not own Independence Day.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Earth.

"Dr. Okun I have to say I didn't expect you to come to my home at five AM much less to tell me this" David said as he looked at the Scientist who was seating on the living room being served a cup of coffee by Catherine. "I knew you were interested and were trying to extract more information from the downed ship. But you've never told me much about what you were doing, in fact if I recall correctly last time I asked you about it you told me you would inform me properly when you got results. Now you want me to ask the UN Secretary General to deploy more forces to Congo to secure the ship because there is a risk of losing the ship and the information on it."

"Something unexpected has come up. It seems Umbutu is not completely in control of his people, some resent him because of his cooperation with the UN, some are spying on the camp, and some seek the information on the ship for their own personal gain." Okun said. "Imagine what one of those crazy warlords could do with the information and technology the ship can offer, you know that on their minds there's only their own benefits and that they see the UN and the ESD as enemies. If we do not prevent that possible scenario we won't be able to prevent similar scenarios in the future we can forget the counterattack against the aliens because for the first time in many, many years our enemies will be human once again not to mention that the loss of the ship and information will a catastrophic event on it's own."

David sighed, Bracken Okun had a point, humanity had to stand together, there wasn't any times for tribal disputes or rebellions, no matter how long their estimations said it would take them to launch a counterattack, he'd told the Secretary General two years, but it could be less or more time depending of how they played their cards every single day.

"I will see what I can do about it, but it will take time." David said. "Especially with what is happening today."

"I understand." Okun said and then he seemed to remember something. "That reminds me, the Sphere has said the Resistance can help us obtain the information from the Ship much faster, perhaps you should also report that to the Secretary General."

Both men sipped on the coffee as Catherine observed Okun atentively. They had grown very close during the year Okun had been awake. After the attack of 2016 the UN decided that having someone like Catherine around could be really helpful, in fact she was working on a project of how the minds "touched" by their alien foes evolved after they had been released from their control and how much information they shared with them during their link. It wasn't all that different from what Catherine had been working prior to the attacks and it helped her original work but she shuddered thinking of what she could or could not include. She had heard some rumours about the plans the UN had of forcing people to connect with the aliens just to extract information and seeing how most people touched by them were affected differently in not necessary a good way afterwards she preferred to delay her research as much as possible. She was now serving more as a therapist for ESD personnel after the war of 2016 although Okun, who had been one of the ones who suffered the most had also been one of the few to refuse her help while not refusing her attempts at forming a good friendship. That was why Catherine felt she needed to chastise Okun for what seemed the millionth time since she knew him.

"How long have you been awake?" She asked through narrowed eyes. Okun looked at her briefly before averting his eyes. I've been busy, I do not have time to sleep.

"Brackish" She said sternly. "You promised me you would go to sleep yesterday after our dinner."

"I couldn't I had much to do my dear, as you know the events in Africa required immediate attention." Okun tried to defend weakly.

"Don't think I don't know what you are doing" Catherine said glaring at him. "You are punishing yourself because of what happened to Milton. You think you are to blame for this."

"I think I've told you many times I don't need a therapist Catherine!" Okun shouted indignantly as he began to head for the door. "Now if you'll excuse me I have matters to tend to."

"Those matters can wait until tomorrow." David, who'd been watching the exchange in silence said. "Now you will remain here and sleep on the couch." Okun opened his mouth to protest but he was silenced by a movement of David hands. "That's an order so unless you want to spend the night on a cell wasting your time I suggest you take my invitation."

Okun indignantly and mumbled softly. David then looked at Catherine who was smiling at him lovingly.

"Let's go to the bed, I have to be up in two hours and I almost haven't slept tonight." He said as he moved himself back to the bedroom with her following.

"Thank you my love" she said as soon as they were out of Okun's hearing range. "I'll perhaps find a way to compensate you."

And for what had to be possibly the very first time in the history of their relationship he refused such an offer.

"Not today, I'm too tired." He said as he entered the room leaving her with a shocked expression. It wasn't for long though as "I'm holding you to that promise tomorrow" sounded from the inside making Catherine chuckle and roll her eyes before entering the room herself.

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The Five members of "Legendary Squadron" Dylan, Jake, Rain, Patricia, who'd returned to being a pilot after the tragic death of her father, and Charlie sat in the briefing room chatting amicably among themselves as they waited for the Director of the Earth's Space Defense, to make his appearance. They were used to David Levinson's lack of punctuallity, as director he had much to do and not really being a military man he often forgot he had to brief the pilots, mainly because didn't have many missions that year, only a few training flights and a scare with a stolen alien ship which was flown over the ruins of Washington, with the location being the reason the US government had requested that "Legendary squadron" took that foe on themselves even though it turned out to be just a prank in which the perpretators would spend some time in jail.

When the director finally entered the room he looked like sleep had eluded him all throughout the night and not because he was having fun precisely. Keeping their thoughts to themselves they saluted him and waited for him to speak.

"Sit down" He said simply and they all obeyed. He'd given up on telling them it wasn't necessary for them to salute him, because he knew they would argue that he was the Director and their commanding officer. After Adams "Promotion" David had been left in charge of both the military and the research branches of the ESD, something he wasn't really grateful for, he had the help of some of ESD Colonels normally, but they usually stood by his side and did little more during the briefings while only acting active during the operations. David pushed all those thoughts aside as he noticed everyone staring at him, waiting for him to begin. Using the computer he had on his desk he passed an image to the screen behind him. Some kind of large ship, long, armed with cannons and several propulsors on it's back. It had what she seemed to be the ship's pertruding from it's main body like a periscope or more like the bridge of a cargo ship, the main body seemed seened like a a giant submarine, three submarines, the main doubling the size of the other two whick were attached to the back half of the main body each at one side or so it seemed from their perspective. It was also colored in a dark grey

"This is the Space Frigate "Night Huntress"" The ship the resistance fighters have come in and is currently awaiting you near the Luna 2 Base. "Your mission as you know is to serve as escorts to it and bring it down here. The sphere is in charge of communicating with it's crew so you won't have to do so yourselves, besides the frequency their communications operate is not someone your comm systems can reach yet."

"Isn't that a little bit dangerous, I mean if we are not careful with our every move they could think we are attacking them." Charlie said. The probabilities of that happening were slim but a voice in all the pilots head associated everything alien related with something bad, although given the good the Sphere was doing for humanity as a whole they were willing to give this resistance the benefit of the doubt.

"They are coming with good intentions Charlie if you don't fool around or try to show off your piloting skills to them everything will be fine." David said as he threw Jake a pointed look.

"What?" Jake asked defensively even though he knew what that was about.

"Much is expected from you." A voice sounded as a man on his fifties, even though the only sign of age was the greying of his black hair, dressed in a military uniform, a dark blue uniform from the USAF. "And we know you won't disappoint."

David looking at the man and his eyes opened wide "Mitchell what are you doing here?"

"Nice meeting you again Doctor Levinson" General Mitchell spoke as everyone looked at him. "You have been requesting a military officer to help you run this place and you got yourself one." He then looked at the pilots. "What are you waiting for get to your Fighters?"

The pilots had many questions but decided their questions could wait until they returned from their mission. Saluting the new arrival who just nodded the five of them ran out of the briefing room to finish getting prepared. Once alone in the room he looked back at David.

"I've been asking for a commander of military operations for a year." David said. "What made Washington change their minds?"

"It wasn't Washington it was Geneve. The Secretary General wasn't really pleased with your estimations. Two years is too long to launch a counterattack, he called president Adams who called me. Both of them want to launch the first wave of the Counterattack next year at the most, 2018."

David huffed, typical political strategy, nodding with your head as if you agreed to everything someone told you and then stabbing that someone in the back.

"The Sphere has adviced us until Earth's defenses are fonctionning again." David protested. "We are in the middle of that we haven't even had time to look at the plans for possible space ships to build most of which require material or technology we don't have yet."

"We are already working on that not to worry although I will have to speak to the Sphere and the rebels for them to hurry the delivery of those materials." Mitchell said. David processed the words he'd just heard.

"You are already working on the ships?" David said. "Why wasn't I informed of that?"

"The UN security council does not respond before you Doctor." Mitchell said. "You've kept some secrets from the higher ups and conducted independent operations over the years, even right before the second alien attack and during it's aftermath too."

David looked at the man, it was clear that the UN had at least some knowledge of Okun's activities in Africa.

"Anything else?" David asked trying as hard as he could not to glare at the man who was supposedly his new colleague.

"We are holding the competition to decide the builder of the new fighter in 8 months." Mitchell added and David could swear he was smirking. The New Fighter who would substitute the H-8 was a greatly debated topic between David and the Security Council. With the prospect of Deep Space Battles just the H-8 fighter could not be enough even if they improved it, at least according to the Sphere, so the UN decided that while H-8 would be improved to try and make it usable in Deep space a new fighter would be built, one usable, in deep space battles as well as orbital and planetary battles. So far several enterprises were working on prototypes for this new fighters, especifically two different groups of aeronautical enterprises were working on two different prototypes. However as far as David was concerned neither of those groups were finished even with their prototypes yet.

"It's too soon." David said.

"That's not our problem." Mitchell said but then he seemed to reconsider. "I think we could find some incentive, economic perhaps, for them to finish the project in time don't you think?"

This time David did glare he didn't like what Mitchell was saying not only because it went against what the Secretary General, that traitor, had said of prioritizing the rebuilding plan over everything else and not having enough budget for the ESD's demands but also because it was making the same mistake that killed his good friend Steven Hiller. Ignoring his glare Mitchell added.

"Let's discuss this another moment." Mitchell said exiting the the room . "We have some aliens to receive."

David just glared at him until he managed to recompose himself. It was true that he didn't want to keep managing the ESD without someone like Adams who always turned out to be a great help but he had the sneaking suspicion Mitchell would be more of a pain in the ass. With that thought in mind he followed General Mitchell to the main control room.

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The members of "Legendary Squadron" flew their H-8 Fighters out of the atmosphere and headed for the moon where their guests waited for them. The control tower informed them that they had stopped their engine near "Luna 2" Moon base a few hundred miles away from the old Moon Base. The squadron flew in formation and maintaining radio silence, everyone really alert, prepared for whatever happened. Dylan "Legendary 1" Flew at the point of the formation with Jake at his right side and Patricia to his left with Charlie and Rain flying beside Jake and Patricia respectively.

"Be ready guys we approaching the moon" Dylan spoke through the radio.

"Roger" responded the rest of the squadron in unison as the allied ship came into view more impressive than how it had seemed on a screen although that wasn't really surprising. The ship turned it's engines on and approached them and like they had practiced the maneuver a thousand times with the aliens "Legendary squadron" assumed it's position as their visitor's escorts heading for the Earth.

"Earth Space Defense this is Legendary Squadron" Dylan reported. Our friends are under our protection I repeat our friends have arrived and are under our protection."

"Good Job Legendary Squadron" Sounded the voice of one of the control tower operators. Escort them back

"Copy that" Dylan said as he observed the ship. It had to be at least a km front to rear, and the scary part was it wasn't as large as their foes ships.

"Dylan" sounded the voice of Jake. "We are entering the atmosphere"

"I can see that" Dylan replied with a chuckle "But thanks for the update." He added truly thankful his friend helped him keep his head on the mission.

"Well this was a short and boring mission." Charlie said, disappointment clear on his voice as they initiated the approach to the ESDHQ.

"Enjoy them while you can Charlie." Patricia said. "Because once we strike back at those bastards we won't have any of these."

"She is right Charlie" the voice of Rain sounded. "Plus take into account I intend to turn you into a hand to hand combat master before our counterattack begins." Charlie shuddered and made his discomfort clear through the radio making everyone laugh.

"Ok that's enough" Dylan said with humor still present on his voice. "Let's break away and go to the hangar, our friends are initiating their descent."

"Roger that" Replied the rest of the squadron again as they maneuvered towards the hangar.

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Sometimes first appearances could be deceiving, sometimes things weren't what they seemed and David had always had been a firm subscriber of that saying. However as he looked at General Mitchell he was more and more sure the years had turned a strict but normal military man into a fully developed asshole after spending only little time with him after years of separation. They had spent their time on the control room in silence as the first part of the escort mission took place, thankfully "Legendary" Squadron knew what they had to do and not many commands or communication from the control room were necessary and Mitchell didn't do much ordering around, he just observed how things worked.

For those few brief minutes until the middle of the escort operations when they decided to head for the jeeps David had almost reassessed his opinion, but that urge didn't last long as they encountered Doctor Okun and the Sphere heading for the convoy as well. And Mitchell decided to speak again.

"Dr. Okun" Mitchell spoke in a tone of voice that held disdain for the man before him. "It's nice to see you again when you are not napping." He added with no humor on his voice whatsoever

David observed Mitchell, completely dumbfounded. He'd known Okun and him didn't get along when he was commander of area 51 but referring to Doctor Okun's 20 year coma as a simple nap was just cruel. Especially when, even if Mitchell didn't know it, Okun didn't sleep much nowadays.

"General Mitchell" Okun greeted the General ignoring his tone and attitude. "Nice to meet you again" he said obviously lying. The General nodded and observed the Sphere who was being carried around by some technicians and protected by some guards.

"So that's the Sphere." Mitchell said with only a hint of interest present in his voice.

"That's the name you humans have given me." The Sphere replied obviously sensing the hostility Mitchell was emitting. "Nice to meet you General Mitchell." At the sound of the Alien being's voice Mitchell nodded again and continued to walk.

"He is... an interest individual" the Sphere said and David sighed as he and Okun got moving as well.

"It's a way to describe him" he said.

"Director Levinson." A guard interrupted. "Our friends have arrived." He informed him just as they got out of the complex and saw the ship landing just as "Legendary" squadron headed for the hangar again just as a convoy composed of several hammers and military Truck parked near the entrance and they all got in. Okun got on the truck as the technicians loaded the Sphere on it and David got on the first hammer with General Mitchell and after the Sphere was on the truck the convoy initiated their way to meet the aliens.

David and General Mitchell were driven in silence, something David was grateful as he cared for small time with the General as much as the General did for small talk with him. After driving for a mile they detected were they were supposed to head as a ramp descended from the ship and touched the ground.

"Dr. Levinson let me do the talking when we arrive." The General said in a particularly cold and professional voice that seemed to hide something.

"We actually thought we should have the Sphere do the talking." David said. "Since we don't have any knowledge of their language and the or any translation device available."

"I'm not asking you what you planned to do David." Mitchell said. "I've been told by both the Secretary General of the United Nations to handle this meeting and I will handle it as I see fit."

"With all due respect" lied David "I don't think you can do it without at least the Sphere's translation's skill not to mention she has been the only one in contact with the aliens since planning this meeting."

"That's what worries me." The General said making David roll his eyes. He had understood that skepticism from the higherups in the days following the 2016 war and alien attack from Anderson and the UN. But a year after it's arrival the only thing that being, that alien had done nothing but help the human race and it was clear the Sphere meant no harm. Although they were those who still saw it as a threat due to it's alien origins

"So what do you propose we do?" David asked truly curious about the answer. "It's not like we have a plan B to talk with this aliens for the OBVIOUS reasons I have given you"

Mitchell sighed in frustration after seeing his point just as the cars parked in front of the landing ramp of the ship. Several aliens were seemingly outside already waiting for the human hosts, their appearance seemed reptillian, bypedal reptylians it seemed with tails and all, taller than the humans and all of them wore armors of black metal and what seemed like helmets that covered their head and faces and armed with weapons similar to those of the humans although those closer to the ramps seemed to have large bladed weapons for close quarter combat. At least those were the most prominent for there were several other types of alien soldiers all dressed in similar armors only distinguished by their shapes or some other body characteristics.

The human soldiers of the ESD didn't wait any time as they got out of the cars and and observed the new arrivals checking for any suspicious movements and the technicians unloaded the Sphere from the truck.

"Tell the Sphere that she'll act only as a translator then." Mitchell said as he got.

"Yes sir" David mumbled in reply not really seeing the point of continuing the argument and getting out he approached Okun to tell him the news.

"What do you mean he only wants the Sphere as a translator?" Okun asked angrily as soon as David told him new. "The Sphere organized this meeting with the Resistance! No she is the Resistance! How do you think the Resistance will take it if they see we have reduced the Sphere into a damn translator!"

"Keep your voice down" David said. "Look I don't like this either but the UN has put him here so for now we will have to follow his rules for a while."

"Doctor Levinson is right Doctor Okun." The Sphere spoke. "The General is not the first being to distrust me among the races of the Resistance. For the sake of our victory I will be just his translator today."

"Thank you" David said smiling at the Alien being.

"The representatives are here" the Sphere spoke clearly moving on from the conversation. David and Okun turned towards the ship to see what she was talking about as the largest yet of the aliens that had come out of the ship, it seemed to belong to the reptillian race. He wore a black armot but his face a mix of a a lizard's, with reptillian eyes sharp teeth and green scales, and a human as it's facial structure a was in the middle between the human and a lizard, oddly similar to one of the villain's that appeared in the amazing Spiderman movies, the only one of the first, ironically called the lizard. Behind him other aliens from other races marched towards the humans, also with their faces exposed, surely representatives of other different races

"It's time" David said as he reached Mitchell's side with the Sphere and Okun more to himself than anybody else. Mitchell seemed to hear him and nodded, seemingly less confident in himself than before.

"Welcome to Earth." He said as he approached the aliens.


	3. Chapter 2: The Oath

I'm sorry it took me this long to update but as I told you last chapter I was on vacation on a foreign country and I couldn't write as much as I would wanted. I'll try to have Chapter 3 up ASAP but I don't know when that will be. In september I'll be much more regular on the updates and I'll begin updating my other Stories too. Until then enjoy this chapter.

LD: I do not own independence day

Chapter 2: The Oath

The Reptillian alien observed Mitchell who had spoken to him and said nothing. It was as if he was still deciding if he liked this new species they had encountered, the one that the Sphere was claimed was destined to lead them. Mitchell on his part remained very still, all the plans and visions he had for this meeting actually thrown out the window. The reptillian alien seemed was imponent and theGeneral couldn't help but feel a little threatened by his appearance. They kept their positions none moving an inch until the reptillian alien noticed the Sphere. He and the aliens who accompanied him brought their fist to their chest and bowed their heads in respect and the Reptillian alien spoke in a language which the humans didn't understand and the Sphere replied in said language.

Suddenly the Sphere turned to observe the General. "This is Zarhok of the Orwegian race. He has come in representation of the Council, the maximum government body of the Resistance." She explained.

"I'm General Mitchell and this gentleman here are Doctor Levinson and Doctor Okun." Mitchell said. "Welcome to earth." He said regaining his confidence litte by little. The Sphere translated the words and the Reptillian alien said something on it's language to which it replied.

"What did he just say?" Okun asked the Sphere earning himself a glare from Mitchell which he ignored.

"He is a little surprised and confused" The Sphere replied. "He expected the race who got rid of one of the Harvester Queen's to be more menacing more warrior-like."

"And what did you reply?" Mitchell asked now offended at Zarhok.

"I said you were tougher than you looked" The Sphere informed him. The orwegian spoke again in his language but suddenly the human realized they began to understand him.

"...In the end all that matters is if you can help us win." It said with a raspy yet deep masculine voice. Seeing the understanding on their faces he smiled, or so it seemed to the humans. "It seems the translators are active. Their language is as primitive as we were warned."

The General looked at the Sphere silently demanding an explanation. "There are Several races amongst the members of the Resistance, that's why on each armor there's a translating device, capable of studying, analyzing and translating any language." The Sphere said.

"It will make things easier then." The General said. "Are they able to understand us?"

"Yes we are, the translators work both ways human." Zarhok said.

"Good, we have much to talk about." The General said.

"Are you the leader of your people?" Asked a female aliens of almost human appearance, that of a woman on her twenties but features clearly not from that world, white skin blue eyes silver colored hear and pointy ears and of inmense beauty. Like Zarhok she also wore a black armor although Okun and David had trouble imagining her as a warrior.

"Excuse me?" The General asked throwing her an annoyed look.

"I've asked you if you are the Leader of your people?" The female alien asked.

"I'm the highest ranking officer of this base. I'm the person you've got to talk with." Mitchell said. "And you are?"

"Miradine, Princess of Natrole." The Sphere introduced her.

"You've not answered my question." Miradine said. "I demand an answer. Are you the leader of your people?" 

"You d..." Mitchell began clearly about to lose his temper but David was quick to act as he didn't want the General to ruin the meeting and probably a potential alliance.

"No he's not. He and I are what could be considered the leaders of this military base. Our leaders aren't here your highness." He intervened quickly and showing respect. He wasn't sure what the costumes with royalty were on other planets but he hoped he could appease the female alien.

"That's most displeasing." Sounded a robotic voice as another alien, one seemingly resembling a robot. "We were hoping to talk with your leaders about your entrance in your alliance."

"Excuse me but isn't the Sphere your leader?" General Mitchell asked curiously.

"The Sphere?" The female asked in confusion until she put two and two together. Her expression told them he wasn't amused by that name, in fact she glared at Mitchell like he was a heretic of some kind or worse.

"How dare you refer to the Prophet in such a rude manner?" She asked angrily and for a moment it seemed she was going to hit Mitchell, prompting several soldiers to be prepared to intervene if necessary. However she just stood near him glaring. "The Prophet is the Saviour of all the races in the Resistance I will not stand by while you insult her in such a manner."

"Princess" Zarhok intervened, his voice laced with authority. "I think it would be best if you stood down I think he gets it." He put a hand on her shoulder and Miradine sighed and nodded.

"I will be in the ship. Call me if my presence is needed." She said heading back. Zarhok and the rest of her peers looked at her before he turned back to face the General.

"I'm sorry, she is a good warrior and a good woman but she still young and very hotheaded." The Orwegian warrior said. "As you said the Prophet is our Leader, it trains us, gives us technology and prepares us for the long war ahead. However each of our races has it's own leaders who after the Prophet brought us to the Safe Planet formed the Council, the organ that helps the Prophet lead us in which every race has it's own voice." He added exposing the facts.

At that moment David and Okun's minds were flooded similar thoughtsof how little they really knew about the resistance and the Sph... the Prophet which made them both ashamed. And how Zarhok despite his appearance and being obviously a warrior seemed to be patient and kind with the General.

"Why is it so important that you meet with our leaders?" David finally asked as the General only nodded at the explaination from the Alien.

"Because we are going to let you join our ranks we need to meet your leaders and explain to them the duties and responsibilities that implies." The Robot like alien spoke again. As such we would like to conduct the process with the leaders without intermediaries. Plus the Princess is a good Judge of Character she will be able to see if your leaders have honest intentions about joining us"

"I guarantee you we have." The General said. "We are completely honest about joining you and eager to couterattack."

"I believe you and so does the Prophet." Zarhok said. "But I could be wrong and..." He paused for a moment and looked at the Sphere. "Some members within the council do not like your idea of having this species leading the rebellion. Some of the members believe your judgement has been clouded by a mere struck of dumb luck."

"My judgement has not been clouded General." The Prophet spoke clearly not liking this test or the council's suspicions. "And what this species did with the Harvester queen is more than just luck. You of all beings should know very few things rely solely in luck."

"It's an order from the council." Zarhok spoke. "If you have any complaints you are welcome to use our communications room."

"That won't be necessary" David intervened this time. "We can arrange to communicate with our leaders right away. If you need them physically here it will take a little bit more time."

"Just a communication will do." The robot-like alien agreed and David nodded ignoring the glare coming his way from Mitchell who clearly had sensed he wasn't in control of the situation anymore, as the Prophet was no longer acting as just a translator and David was intervening more than the General thought he should.

"Then you are welcome to..." David began but the General interrupted him before he finished the sentence.

"Then you will have to wait by your ship" Mitchell said without hiding his irritation at both the aliens and David. "I'll send one on of my men to fetch you when we are ready."

"That will not be a problem." Zarhok replied choosing ignore Mitchell's increasing hostility. Nodding at the alien's statement the General turned around and headed back for the car with David and Okun following him

"I will stay here General" The Prophet said but the General ignored it and the only response it got was Okun's nod before the three men got in a car and the convoy drove away

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"Do you know what you are doing?" David asked Mitchell as both man entered the ESD's director's office, David's Office, at least for the time being if the UN didn't decide to give it to Mitchell too. He was making an effort not to shout but his anger was present in his voice. "You are about to ruin a year of work"

"If you had let me conduct a negotiation how I told you this would not have happened." Mitchell replied also containing his voice although it was clear by his expression than he wanted to punch David or worse.

"You damn fool!" Okun said. The former Scientific Head of Area 51 was even more pissed than David even if he hadn't shown it in front of the Aliens. "How dare you come here and begin to ruin everything we've been working for!"

David looked at his colleague as the General glared at him coldly. "Careful with what you say Doctor." He then looked at David. "I am the highest ranking officer and this is a military base so I can have both of on a cell if you don't behave. I've been tempted do so as you and that fucking metallic sphere began disobeying me."

"How did we..." Okun began but David raised his hand to stop the Doctor from getting himself arrested.

"Listen General." David said regaining his composure and sighing. "I understand that you are here to do your mission." Even if it seems you are just being a dick about it he might have wanted to add but herefrained from doing so and continued. "However us fighting over who is in control of this organization or the negotiation with the aliens doesn't help anyone. The war against the beings that attacked us is far from over and we will need as much help as possible, the schedule you and the UN Secretary General have set depends on it. So let's concentrate on what's truly important, getting ourselves some intergalactic allies because if it's us against the Universe we are not going to survive very long.

"Alright" Mitchell said sighing and nodding. "We will contact the Secretary General and the Security Council, they were all awaiting a report on the situation anyway. I'll let you know however that I don't agree with this and if the aliens do something as much as offend them or the negotiation fails I will not cover for you" He added a warning before stepping out of the room. Once alone Okun looked at David.

"He is even more abnoxious than I remember." He said with indignation on his voice. "You are supposed to be the Director of the ESD can't you fire him or something?" He asked only half joking.

"You know how long I've been asking for a General to come help me manage this place?" David replied completely serious. "They won't understand that I ask for another one if I fire Mitchell, plus he has the support of at least the Secretary General of the UN. We'll just have to learn to coexist and cooperate with him."

"I guess so" Okun reluctantly agreed and decided to change the topic.

"Where is the Sph... the Prophet?" He asked Okun. "We could really use it's help to plan a negotiation strategy."

"It has remained with the Alien forces." Okun replied and David groaned, he was sure the General was not going to like it when he found out. Okun chuckled and added as if he was reading David's mind. "It told the General but he wouldn't listen and you also ignored it." David nodded but still sighed hoping that Mitchell would be too busy with the higher ups to notice before the meeting.

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The prophet encountered itself in front of the hologram of a Orwegian, even if the hologram showed him bigger than normal it was clear that it was larger than any of the ones on the ship and, as far as the Prophet knew larger than any member of his species. Council Menber Krangton, was the leader of the Orwegian race and one of the most prominent members of the Rebellion. He was also a being that liked to antagonize everything the Prophet said and yet did so in a way that he rarely offended the other members of the council.

" **This test was your idea**." The Prophet spoke in a way that would have surprised any of her new human allies if they had heard it. It was full a voice full of accusation and not at all robotic. Then again she was speaking in the language of the Orwegian race which was aggressive by nature. " **Wasn't it?** "

" **This was a decision made by the Council as a whole.** " Krangton replied with his face and voice not revealing any emotion. " **Although it may have been my idea to begin with.** "

" **This is most unusual, you've never tested the willingness of a race to join us. What brought this on?** " The Prophet asked. " **Could it be that you are afraid the humans will take away your race's spot as the Resistance's Vanguard?** "

" **Is that your plan?** " Krangton replied with a question of his own although he smiled at the end of that sentence. " **Of course it wouldn't be. I've known you long enough to know that you appreciate all the species in the Resistance. However you seem to think this Human Race is Key to defeating our enemies, to lead us even. As such I wish to see to which lengths they will go for us, we don't need someone who is not willing to fight until the very end, someone that could betray us on our side.** "

" **What will happen if the Humans don't pass your test?** " The Prophet asked. " **Will you have this ship leave the planet in peace or will you conquer it** "

" **We will leave them in peace.** " Krangton said although the Prophet could tell he was lying. " **It will just mean that I was right and you were wrong. But you shouldn't have to worry it's not a difficult test, just a conversation with Princess Miradine.** "

" **We both know it's not that simple** " the Prophet replied but before it could add something else it noticed de presence of Zarhok near the communication's room entrance. The Orwegian saluted the leader of his race bringing his right fist to the left side of his chest and bowed his head before looking at the Prophet.

" **We've received word from the Humans, their leaders are waiting to speak with us.** " He told the Prophet.

" **We shall see now if your faith on this humans is well placed.** " Krangton spoke. " **I'll await your update** " he added looking at Zarhok who just nodded before the hologram of the other Orwegian disappeared.

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David observed as the Prophet, Zarhok and their companions entered the ESDHQ's Control room and then observed the world leaders who had been contacted through Videocall hoping this meeting would go well and without any troubles, for he was sure that without this intergalactic allies the Earth would not, could not, withstand a third attack by aliens. Like they had done when they had first met with David and Mitchell the alien delegation brought their fist to the chest and bowed their head as a sign of respect while the human leaders didn't make a move. They just observed the alien delegation in silence, a silence which was interrupted by the Prophet.

"Members of the Earth's Security Council, I present to you the Representative's of the Resistance for this delegation." The Prophet spoke without really introducing anyone to anyone.

"I am Zarhok" The Orwegian spoke taking a few steps forward. "And who may I ask is the Supreme leader of this council."

The Surprise was evident on the faces of the politicians as they observed this being as it spoke to them in perfect english. When someone finally broke the silence at least a minute of each party examining the other had passed.

"I guess I am not the first person to tell you this." Secretary Johnson finally spoke. "But welcome to Earth."

"Are you the leader of your Species?" Princess Miradine asked as rudely as she had done with Mitchell. Or so seemed to think the General who, like David had observed silently since the aliens had entered the room. However he said nothing as he knew it wasn't his place to reply, something David was grateful for since he knew another argument between the General and the Princess could bring these talks to a very bad ending.

"In this case yes I speak for the human race. I am Bob Johnson Secretary General of the United Nations." Johnson said politely. "General Mitchell told us you wanted to speak with us personally."

"And who are these other people?" The Princess inquired and David could swear her eyes were glowing unnaturally as she questioned the Secretary General. "This Security Council, are they your advisors?"

"Things don't quite work like that in our world" President Adams intervened not liking to be only an spectator during this exchange. "We are the leader's of some of the most powerful nations in this planet."

"Nations is the equivalent this planet has of tribes, clans etc." The Prophet explained being able to read the Princess's next question. David chuckled and looked around for Okun wondering if the good Doctor was finding this as amusing as he was however the good Doctor was nowhere to be found in the control room, something that seemed weird to David as Okun was one of the people that were most interested in the conversations going well. Before he could wonder further, his thoughts were interrupted by Sebastian Schmidt, an aging german politician, bald with blue eyes and an still imposing body complexion, who was the President of the European Comission that represented the EU, who occupied a place in the Security Council since the death of the last French President and was in charge of rebuilding the most part of the European Continent, with the exception of the countries outside the EU and Britain, which was neither fully in or fully out.

"So why did you want to talk with us directly?" He asked with a thick German accent but in perfect english. Before the Princess could respond the robot-like alien whose name David still didn't know spoke.

"We want you to swear loyalty to the cause of the Resistance." He spoke matter-of-factly as if what he said was the most natural thing in the world.

"Excuse me?" Asked an aging asian woman of black hair and petite complexion. She was Sakura Taneguchi, Prime Minister of Japan.

"We want to make sure we can trust you to fight against our common enemy." Zarhok spoke not at all surprised by the reaction of the world's Leaders. "We will ask you to swear an oath, from the information that we've gathered it's not that unusual in this world." The Orwegian said clearly more informed about Earth than the Princess.

"Just that?" The Russian prime minister, a bulky young man with military haircut and piercing blue eyes asked with an accent even thicker than the German.

"Just that" Zarhok confirmed, however he added something that clearly made the World leaders nervous. "However I believe it's fair to inform you that the princess as well as her whole race can be considered Lie Detectors, those who try to fool her never succeed it may even bring them pain to do so."

David had to suppress a shudder, as much as a tiny sadistic part of him would like to see the Secretary General try to lie to the alien if only to see him suffer a little for what he had done to David and almost the whole negotiation by sending Mitchell, the larger and most logical part of him knew that the outcome of this alliance rested completely on the shoulders of politicians and what was worse politicians speaking the truth. Looking at the faces of said politicians however they seemed to be more offended than nervous since the last thing Zarhok had said seemed like a thinly veiled threat.

"We accept" The Secretary General spoke with determination clear on his voice. It seemed the man could be reliable sometimes as the confidence on his voice made David gain some of his own back.

"Very well." Zarhok spoke. "Then repeat after me. "We the Leaders of the Human Race"" He began with the oath that the Council repeated. " "Swear in front of the Prophet and the Delegation of the Confederation of Intergalactic Species that resist against the Swarm's aggressive behavior"" He continued and the Council continued with him. "That our species will fight with all our strength and to the last sentient being until our enemy is defeated, with an iron will and unwavering loyalty."" The Orwegian finished and the Council finished with him.

David had to admit that the oath the council had just sworn was simple enough, yet powerful and very specific. He also had to admit that he liked the name the Resistance had for the Hostile aliens, The Swarm, perhaps because of their large numbers during their attacks and their hive mind which made them similar to a swarm of insects. Zarhok looked at Miradine whose eyes stopped glowing shortly after the Oath of the Council was finished.

"Well?" Zarhok asked the Netrolean princess. The young girl, who seemed tired, just as some of Council members seemed too, nodded to the Orwegian who smiled. "It seems your sincerity has been proved." He said looking at them and then at General Mitchell. "It seems there is much work to be done."

Mitchell nodded with a smile on his own which surprised David, and some of the operators celebrated, but of course the moment was brief as Catherine entered the room with a clearly nervous expression. David approached his girlfriend who had gotten the attention of every being present on the room as well as the Security Council.

"Catherine" David spoke concerned. "Are you alright?"

"We've received a transmission from Africa David." She said. David, Secretary Johnson and General Mitchell, who knew what was going on in Africa, they knew of Okun's clandestine operation, looked at each other worried.

"What happened?" David asked.

"Dr Okun is talking with Umbutu right now to get the whole picture but..." Catherine paused for a moment trying to stop panting. "...Some unknown rebel forces have gained control of the Ship.


	4. Chapter 3: The Fall of the RNU

Here is the fourth Chapter of independence day Counterattack. I'm very sorry for the delay but I've been out of my home and without my computer for the last days of August as well. I would like to thank all the reviews and supports I've been getting for you and I would like to tell "Guest" some of the answers you seek are in this chapter, yes I will try to update weekly from now on. And the rest of the answers will be at the end of the Chapter. By the way the RNU stands for République Nationale d'Umbutu

LD: I do not own Independence day.

Chapter 3: The fall of the RNU

Rosenberg and Umbutu stood in an office on a UN building on the refugee camp that was the nearest to the République Nationale d'Umbutu in front of the commander of the UN forces in Congo, Colonel Pierre Dumas, a fifty something french national member of the French Foreign Legion with a hard face, deep greem eyes and a nose that had had to be broken more than once who was small for a man on his line of work but commanded respect with every movement he made and who as far as they could take was less than pleased of having to shelter rebels within his base and refugee camp. However the information they had given and the actions of both men during the 2016 war against the alien had made it very hard for him and his men to block them entrance to their camp, well that and the number of occidental citizens they brought with them.

"Have you contacted our friends in the ESD yet?" Dumas asked Umbutu and Rosenberg.

"Yes we have" Rosenberg replied, knowing that it was best if he was Umbutu's voice within the camp, after all not so long ago he'd been an enemy of the UN's forces in the area and despite his actions during the latest war that fact could be an impediment to the normal flow of information between them and their, at least for now, protectors. "I reported it to the ESD's and from what I could gathered they would soon report it to the Security Council."

"So they told you they would contact you back." Dumas assumed.

"Exactly. I suppose they are coming up with a plan to retake the ship." Rosenberg said with a nod.

"And are you going to evacuate you and the scientist soon?" Dumas asked, not hiding the fact that he didn't like the situation. Umbutu was going to reply but Rosenberg put his hand on his friend's arm and shook his head.

"It is possible that they will require our assistance here and the scientist need to be here also" Rosenberg explained.

"So I will have to host you here until then huh?" Dumas asked clearly displeased by this turn of events.

"Yes" Umbutu replied and the General glared at him although he didn't even make Umbutu flinch. Rosenberg sighed as he could see why there would be tension between the man, however he couldn't have Umbutu getting into a fight with a UN commander nor could he have the UN commander getting a fight with Umbutu mainly because it could need to a huge fight through the refugee camp and he'd rather not deal with that.

The Colonel looked at Rosenberg seemingly seeing no reason to continue provoking the warlord due to the inevitability of the situation. "So how come did you and the rebel forces get expelled from Umbutu's territory?" He asked. "I know for a fact the Congolese have been trying to retake their lost province ever since Umbutu Sr took power."

"We've been betrayed." Umbutu spoke. "Samuel Massamba's forces struck during the last hours of the night in collaboration with some men I considered loyal and trustworthy."

"I thought you told me you didn't know who was behind it." Rosenberg said a little hurt that Umbutu hadn't told when he had asked.

"I didn't know when you asked me." Umbutu replied sincerely. "I've just learnt of it talking to some of my men before coming into the tent. They said they had seen the banner of Massamba's men in some of the attackers clothes."

"Massamba?" The Colonel asked losing all the tan he had acquired during his mission in Africa. "You mean the cultist that believes the Aliens to be the messengers of god who've come to punish is all for our sins. That Massamba?"

"That's the one." Umbutu confirmed the Colonel's fears.

"Well that explains the way they fought and what I heard." Rosenberg remembering the events of the attack.

(((Flashback)))

Rosenberg laid in bed on the room Umbutu had installed him in on the "Presidential Palace" of the République Nationale d'Umbutu. He had to say being friends with an african warlord had some advantages like for example being able to sleep on a somewhat comfortable bed when most of the African continent didn't have that luxury. Yet that night sleep seemingly avoided him, the information of a possible revolt of some of Umbutu's man had him nervous. Not because he feared for his life, a year ago he had among other thing demonstrated to himself that he could be a damn tough fighter if the situation called for it, but because of what could happen if Umbutu lost control of the ship.

During the year that he had known Doctor Okun he had come to see the Doctor as the very intelligent although eccentric man he was, a man who was very rarely wrong and who had tasked him with the very important task of overseeing the scientist extracting information from the ship and keeping him informed, especially remarking the importance of the operation when he had send him on his way. He seemed to think the information on the ship could be key for the future of humanity and for the war against it's enemies. Sighing he closed his eyes, it would do him well to get some sleep because tired and alert were not things that really went together.

However as soon as he closed his eyes he opened them again as he heard an explosion going off too close for comfort followed by the alarmed shouting of the guards and gun fire both laser fire and bullets. It took him a few seconds to put all those sounds together in the same context until the realization came to him. The République was under attack. Picking up his own gun he moved towards the door but stopped himself. This attack was most likely human, and he had never had to kill a member of his own species before. Sure he had practiced with the recruits during his basic training but the first and last time he'd seen some real action was during the Battle of Area 51 against the aliens.

"It's kill or be killed!" Resounded the voice of the sargeant on his heas that had been in charge of his training the past year, Sargeant Jackson, a veteran of many wars aside from the ones against the aliens and a true military man. That what he shouted whenever some of his men asked him about combat. Nodding to himself as he was reassured he could do well in battle he exited his room and entered a hall where two guards, two of the men Umbutu trusted the most, stood guard, armed wirh laser rifles. They were clearly nervous and he was sure the only thing impeding them from rushing into battle was Umbutu's order to never leave Rosenberg's side.

"What's happening?" Rosenberg asked the man to the left of the door who had a a radio on one of his hand.

"We are under attack from some other insurgent groups." The man replied.

"And where is Umbutu?" Rosenberg asked.

"He was with the scientists escorting them back to their barracks but he has retreated back to the laboratory they set up near the ship." The soldier told him

"Tell him we are on our way" Rosenberg said as he began walking down the hall. The two soldiers looked at each other and followed him but the soldier without the radio spoke.

"We are being overrun on all fronts" the second soldier told him. "The President has ordered our remaining forces to retreat out of the camp"

"I've been here sent to ensure that the mission to extract information from the ship is going according to plan." Rosenberg said. "At the very least I gotta make sure the scientist make it out alive." He said and neither soldier replied which Rosenberg interpreted as they accepting to help him. Of course as it often happened when you overcame an obstacle a bigger one appeared as just as he was about to turn around the last corner and head for the entrance several bullets and laser shots came his way making quickly duck for cover, as his two protectors returned fire.

Once safely covered Rosenberg looked at his attackers, about twenty of them occupied the main entrance of the "Palace". Once determining he would have to shoot his way out of the palace he pointed his gun at one of the attackers, the one closest to him who wasn't taking cover, in fact he had a crazed expression and shouted as he shot his enemies with his old Kalashnikov. Rosenberg pointed the gun at the insurgent's head and shot. The man fell on his back with a somewhat fierce expression on his face. Rosenberg paused for a moment and took cover again just as his companions took out a couple of enemies as well. He had done it, he had took a human life, and it had been surprisingly easy.

"Concentrate" He told himself as many shots impacted the corner beside him. "You will have a moment to listen to your conscience once you are out of here Floyd." And with his determination reinforced he continued shooting at the enemies hoping he would have enough bullets to end them all while his companions called for help. A few minutes later only three of their opponents remained standing and taking cover behind some of the columns outside the entrance, sadly Rosenberg had also lost his two companions had run out of bullets and exhaustion was barely being fought back by a rush of adrenaline . Putting his gun away he took one of his companion's weapons and continued firing in a desperate attempt.

His enemies perhaps scared by the scream Rosenberg let out as he charged them stepped back to the road in front of the "Palace" with one falling to his laser shots. But just as he thought he could win it he was forced to retreat behind the door as an even larger group of enemies began shooting at him. This time Floyd felt desperation taking over him. Closing his eyes he closed his eyes, it seemed his time to die was near, he could only hope that Umbutu had somehow managed to get the scientists out to safety.

"All heretics must die!" A voice shouted just as more shouts resounded yet none impacted on the door and then silence. Rosenberg looked outside and was surprised to see an small convoy of vehicles with Umbutu and the scientists on board as well as about a hundred République d'Umbutu soldiers.

"Floyd quickly!" Umbutu said as Rosenberg rushed towards the jeep he was in and jumped on the passenger's seat. A few seconds later Umbutu, Rosenberg and the convoy were on their way to the UN camp.

(((End of Flashback)))

"So we will have to hold out here until the ESD decides to help us against one of the most dangerous and definitely the most fanatic warlord from this area." Dumas concluded interrupting Rosenberg's trip down memory lane. The accountant looked at him and nodded.

"It seems that way." Rosenberg replied. "I should contact them again and tell them who we are up against."

Rosenberg was just about to move towards the entrance a soldier entered the tent and saluted them.

"Sir" the UN soldier addressed Dumas. "The Congolese government has contacted us." He said with a worried expression.

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David sat on a chair on the ESDHQ in front of a screen with the image of Bob Johnson on a screen. On the room with him were Okun, Mitchell`, the Prophet, Miradine and Zarhok as well as several colonels from the ESD. The rest of the aliens had returned to the ship on Zarhok order and the security council had other matters to tend to although he was sure the Secretary General would keep them informed of whatever they decided. And as far as the meeting had gone so far it seemed the General consensus was that they had to intervene. However two things had happened that had sent them back to square one.

The first one was the Congolese government's claim that the attack had been conducted by their forces to take the territory that Umbutu's rebels illegally occupied. The second one was Rosenberg report that in fact it was conducted not only by rebels but by some fanatics who considered the Swarm to be some kind of God's messengers and Congo's demand to hand over every piece of information they had extracted from the ship.

Not only did those two pieces of news send them to square one but also slowed the decision making process greatly. Throwing a look at Zarhok and Miradine he wondered if the aliens were familiar with something similar to Earth's bureaucracy or it's decision making progress and hoped he didn't reconsider their alliance because of this.

"Sir we must act fast" General Mitchell's voice broke David out of his thoughts. "God only knows what those maniacs wish to do with the ship but the intelligence reports we actually have of their organization none of the prospects are too bright."

"Yet if we act Congo can easily consider it an act of war." Johnson said. "Besides we do not have the Forces in the area to take back the area around the ship."

"We could use our bases in southern Europe." One of the Colonels said. "We have several H-8 Fighters and ESD personnel in Spain and Italy."

"But Congo will appeal then to the African Union" Johnson said looking at the worst case scenario "And the UN still has many refugee camps and UN forces bases in the continent."

"Yet letting those lunatics have that kind of technology is crazy." Okun intervened. "We must act now!"

"Doctor let me be clear with you. Do not let the frustration of your failed illegal operation be impertinent with me because I will have thrown into the darkest hole of this planet" Johnson said in barely contained anger.

"Gentlemen" David intervened before the situation scalated. "We have bigger issues than your bruised ego." And then he sighed.

"Perhaps we should wait and see what this Congo Clan's next step will be" Zarhok said without letting any of his emotion about this show.

"I don't know how things work in your planet but it's obvious that a decisive action is better in this situation." Mitchell snapped at the Orwegian.

"If you were going to be decisive you would have already gathered your men and launched an attack." Zarhok said keeping his composure. "Besides I've seen this before."

"What?" Mitchell asked incredulously mirroring the thoughts of those present in the room.

"It's not unusual for those in the planet attacked by the Swarm to believe them to be some punishment by the Gods." Zarhok explained calmly. "Nor is it weird that some of them turn against their own species because of it. Entire civilizations have turned into slaves for the Swarm believing them to be divine." A silence fell over the group as they tried to process what Zarhok was saying. If they had heard correctly the Swarm had it's own allies as well which made their two victories over them seem pointless, since it seemed they barely used a percentage of their force against them even if they killed one of their queens.

"It's good to know that Religious extremism exists in other planets as well." David said breaking the silence. 

"I don't know if I can agree with that assessment." Miradine intervened with a somewhat pained expression.

"He was just being ironic" The Prophet spoke for the first time since the meeting had begun and all of them looked at the metallic Sphere.

"Do you have any ideas?" Secretary Johnson asked.

"I believe Zarhok's strategy is the most logical right now." The Sphere said. "We will have to wait and see what happens."

"Then couldn't we at least evacuate our personnel from the area." Okun said clearly displeased with the plan, something Mitchell seemed to share.

"I'll talk about it with the congolese government and arrange for nearby countries to transport them out of Africa." Johnson said clearly frustrated with the whole situation. "Let me know about any developments."

"Yes sir" Mitchell replied professionally before the image of the UN's secretary general disappeared leaving only the men present at the ESDHQ's control room. "Perhaps we should contact president Adams concerning the evacuation and a possible preemptive strike." He said once the Secretary General was gone.

"I believe it's wiser to wait" David spoke. "We don't if the president won't agree with the Secretary General on this plus it would create unnecessary conflict between the US and UN. I don't like to wait either but what Zarhok said seems reasonable. Although he could help us evacuate the area with the USAF if the UN's plan fails"

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Independence Day))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Samuel Massamba, a tall bulky black man with graying hair and dressed in a white robe with gold symbols knit into it, the High Priest robe as it was known to his followers, walked into what had been the République Nationale d'Umbutu's Presidential Palace. The corpses of his followers and those loyal to Umbutu were still all around the mansion and he stopped to look at many of his followers on his way to the Presidential office where those devilish Umbutu's had made many plans to destroy God's Messenger and from where many plans had been made during their Heretic war.

He entered the despicable place and observed the portrait of the dictator who had brought as much pain to his people as he had the Gods before his son had deposed him and his followers executed him. To Massamba that portrait was physically painful he in fact supported himself against a wall to prevent himself from fainting. The more time he spent there the more he was sure he would burn all of this when he left, but unfortunately god had other plans for him. He would have to stay in such a despicable place for a while until his objective was accomplished.

He smiled as he heard the shouts of the people, no, not people the heretic beasts that were being purged from this sinful world by his followers and their rifles. Men, women and children all lead towards limbo where they would cleanse themselves and ascend to the heavens, the warriors however would burn eternally in hell. Many had escaped though, too many had found refuge within the confines of the UN camp including Umbutu and his occidental friends. But it didn't matter because soon they would all be purged, purged by his hands, by the divine fire of God's messengers.

His thoughts were interrupted as another African man, this one wearing a bussinessman's suit and golden glasses to compensate his lack of sight, entered the room. He was significantly less bulky, his skin was more brown than black, and was younger than Massamba, he also had an air of superiority the religious Leader didn't like. Someone he would have purged already if he wasn't useful and a member of the Congolese government he was using. While the Government of Congo had let him conduct the attack only with his forces without providing help they had sent extra-security to the camp and helped him deal with a possible attack from the United Nations, so he supposed it was a beneficial "Partnership".

"Mr Massamba" the man, Mr Ibaka, Jean Ibaka, greeted him. "I was looking for you."

"Well Mr Ibaka you have found me." Massamba replied courtly. "What is the matter?"

"This kind of savagery your men are conducting on the civillian population will make the UN be a tougher rival at the negotiating table." Ibaka said without hiding his irritation or his distaste for Massamba and his followers.

"If you have come to scold me, I believe your time would be better spent elsewhere." Massamba replied politely but with a dangerous voice. "In Brazzaville perhaps."

"I have not come here to scold you but..." Ibaka said a little intimidated, he knew the reputation Massamba had and what he did to those who crossed him. He reduced his tone. "I'm just saying that for future negotiation..."

"Negotiations are your problem." Massamba said. "Did you want anything else?"

"We have asked the UN for any information they have on the ship." Ibaka replied this time almost submissively, that was the effect Massamba had on people, even the fiercest warrior ended up like scared children before him and tried to avoid angering him and Jean Ibaka wasn't even a warrior. "They would also like to know if you'd let a team of our own scientists in."

"My men are searching our temple right now." Massamba said referring to the ship. "Once they are done I will consider your request" He added lying. "Anything else?"

"N-No" Ibaka stuttered in response.

"Then I am about to begin my meditation" Massamba said. "Please leave."

The young government official just nodded and retreated from the room as quickly as he could. Massamba smirked, those fools in the government thought he would let them do as they pleased with the ship, their temple, the weapon given to them by god to purge in his name. Soon he would dispose of those fools with Ibaka being the first and then he would lead his people to join the cohorts of divine messengers and purge this filthy universe alongside them.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Independence Day)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Let's see "Guest" to reply to which has not been replied in this chapter. The Princess and whole resistance are interested on the humans not only because it's their first contact but because they are the only species to ever defeat a "Harvester Queen" and the princess more so because as I wrote she is young. About the Greys I'm not quite sure what you are referring too, please put it in another review so I can reply accordingly. (Very sorry about that)

To the rest of the readers I encourage you to review ask and recommend whatever you want I'll try to answer your questions and I'll surely take your reviews into consideration.


	5. Chapter 4: Always Calm Before the Storm

Hey Dark Cronos here, I'm sorry for the delay and I know I promised you a double chapter this week but the second one is coming alone slower than expected. It should be ready between today and tuesday but I saw no reason to keep delaying the publication of this one. As always thank you for reading following or favoriting the story your support means a lot to me please continue to do so in the future, and thanks to the one reader who reviewed this time. The character you recommended will definitely appear although with a different history.

LD: I do not own ID4 nor it's sequel or the expanded universe. Enjoy!

Chapter 4: It's always Calm Before the Storm

Henry Wang was a chinese man from Hong Kong on his late sixties who seemed like a normal man, almost always dressed as a stereotypical university professor and a man who didn't color his greying hair as if he was ashamed of his age. However the MIT graduate and Doctor was a rare kind of scientist, the one that had managed to give his all for science who also was a strong believer, having been raised as a catholic christian by his family, he was able to take parts of the bible and scientific and history. That was perhaps what made him a perfect target when he lost his family during the war of 1996.

Yes, his family, like countless other people was lost to the second contact humanity ever had with an alien species, or the first one if we don't count the Rosswell incident. His wife, his son and daughters had been lost during the attack on Hong Kong which he surprised as he was on a bunker collaborating with other scientists with the Government to defeat the alien threat. After the war was over he tried everything, submerging himself in work and giving in alcoholism as he put the blame on a higher power. It was three years into this certainly self-destructing path when he met Massamba who in just a month, saved him, gave him purpose and revealed to him that his family's cruel demise had been God's will and the aliens were his messengers destined to bring the whole humanity to his celestial kingdom while purging the evil and the heretics. Therefore he should not mourn the passing of his family for surely they were alive in heaven waiting for them to join them, but not before he helped Samuel Massamba with his sacred mission of purifying this corrupt world.

That was what, a month ago, brought Henry and several good faithful scientists to the African territory formerly known as the République Nationale d'Umbutu where Samuel Massamba and his forces set their camp to try and repair one of the few intact Alien ships or Temples like Henry and the rest of the congregation knew them. And the month of hard work seemed to be paying off as Henry and all his colleagues were sure they could have it operational again soon taking into account that most of humanity's current technology came from the Aliens.

As he and another scientist worked on what seemed to be the Bridge of the ship, Henry felt a pair of eyes observing him from behind. Turning around he saw his leader, saviour and, as far as he was concerned, friend, Samuel Massamba, who observed the scientist work in silence with a small smile.

"Your excellency" He greeted as he bowed to the High Priest.

"Henry" Massamba returned the greeting. "How is our holy work progressing?" He asked with his impatience perfectly hidden."

"It's working according to plan and ahead of schedule." Henry replied as he left his work to the other scientist and approached Massamba. "The ship is not as badly damaged as we thought before coming in, it could be done from two weeks to a month."

"Good" Massamba said smiling at the scientist. "Because let me tell you brother I'm getting tired of dealing and delaying the Congolese government even if they are useful for dealing with the UN and the ESD and using their hostages as leverage to prevent our enemy from taking action."

"Brazzaville will be our first objective then" Henry commented nonchalantly as if they were talking what they were going to eat that day.

"Patience my brother. They will all be purged." Massamba said. "However I trust you have found a way to act on our own before responding to the calls of the gods."

The scientist nodded understanding what Massamba was asking despite it would not have made any sense to any other scientist.

"We can block temporarily the call from the nearest Harvester Queen. At least temporarily, Although we can't be sure of how long yet." He explained.

"Well, I guess we can always return with the God's messengers to Purge those who escape us this time" Massamba said as he turned away from Henry. "It's time for my prayers I will be going now." He said as he retreated prompting Henry to return to his work.

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Princess Miradine walked along the halls of the ESD's HQ together with the robot-like alien, or as he was now known also by the humans, Tyrion, the science officer on the alien ship, and an Aridian, one of the few alien races of the Confederation who could not survive for long on any atmosphere that wasn't that of his now destroyed planet. None of the other member races of the Confederation knew what he or any member of his species looked like, although on their safe planet there was an mini-ecosystem facilitated by the Prophet and banned to the rest of the Confederation races where they moved around without their life supporting suits.

Both of them were seeking Zarhok who had gone to a meeting with the human leaders to discuss for what seemed the thousandth time the situation of the fallen Swarm ship on the continent the Humans called Africa. While the Confederation forces weren't really strangers to slow decision making but the Humans seemed too slow in dealing with what seemed to be a crisis. Normally the Confederation would have dealt with it within a week at most. Plus the situation in Africa was distracting the humans from what was really important. Ever since they had been cooperating things seemed terribly slow. So the only thing they had done was train with the humans in basic forms on combat to study them and see what each, the resistance or the humans, lacked so it could improved, Miradine had to recognize that despite being a somewhat primitive race their Forms of fightings were rather effective. However by this point a human, a high ranking human should have been sent to the Resistance's planet to work as an embassador to the Confederation or so the Miradine and the rest of the Confederation aliens had thought. They also had hoped to begin working to send some technicians to help with the development of new weapons and new devices for the fight against the Swarm as well as helping with the improvement of the ESD's current arsenals and materials which they had started with the information the Prophet had provided for them.

But Johnson, the human leader, had refused to send anyone to the Resistance Planet or allow their technicians access to their bases as well until the situation on Earth had stabilized. It had frustrated Zarhok and Miradine to see that this rebellion, was being made out to be something more than it really was. Most of the races had had this kinds of beings who sanctified the Swarm like Miradine had told the humans but so far none of them had stopped doing other things or their collaboration with the Confederation to deal with such an affair. In fact in some cases when a Race entered the Confederation, internal troubles of each species were normally solved by the Confederation of Intergalactic species as a whole. The humans however seemed intent on dealing with this themselves although allowing Zarhok to advise them on their plans.

"I can't believe we are letting those bastards do whatever they want just because the bureaucrats think they are making progress through the Diplomatic channels." Sounded a male voice from one of the rooms near the main control room of the base pulling Miradine out of her thoughts. The voice sounded seemed familiar, if she recalled correctly it belonged to Captain Dylan Dubrow-Hiller a pilot of the ESD.

"Calm down Dylan" Sounded the voice of a female pilot, Patricia Whitmore, if the princess recalled correctly. Miradine headed for the room where the voices were coming from as Tyrion observed her before taking her by the arm.

"We need to find General Zarhok and go back to the ship, the Council is expecting a report on the situation here." Tyrion said. Miradine was about to reply but she knew he was right, she was letting her curiosity get the better of her. But she had barely interacted with other personnel from the base that weren't the higher ups and the few times she hadn't learnt much about the humans, which made them more and more interesting as time went by. Pushing those thoughts aside she was about to follow Tyrion out when she heard Zarhok's voice responding to the pilots conversation.

"Your frustration is understandable Captain." He seemed to be telling Dylan. "But a confrontation with your superior is not a way to prove that point. General Mitchell has also been pushing for immediate actions against this fanatics."

"That's not the only thing that frustrates me General." Dylan replied with a respectful voice. "Before this insurgence in Africa began the UN was pushing us to begin preparations for our counterattack against the Swarm. Now this situation seems to have slowed those plans down even more because it is another open front. And while we are losing time only god knows if they are preparing for a third attack."

"If you truly ended one of their Harvester Queens, I doubt they'll strike back too soon, ever since their war against the Prophet's race no one had ever felled one of those." Miradine spoke as she entered the room with Tyrion. Besides the people she had heard from the hall she saw the rest of "Legendary" Squadron was also on the room. The human's chief scientist, Dr Okun was also there. Miradine looked at Zarhok ignoring the confused looks from the rest. "I'm sorry for interrupting but the Council is awaiting a report."

"We are also waiting." Charlie spoke before Zarhok replied. "It seems those damn rebels are up to no good."

Now it was Miradine's and Tyrion's turn to be confused. "It seems the humans suspects their rebels are trying to activate the Swarm's City Destroyer."

"What?" Tyrion asked. "How did those savages get the hands on the technology to do so."

"I'm afraid they brought help. Out Intelligence services, by that I mean from UN members, have noticed several disappeared scientists on the camp and it seems they are working on the ship." Okun told his alien colleague.

"With their technical experience taking, they seem to think it would be possible for them to do so" Jake said.

"And why are you all here if they are discussing such important things?" The Princess asked.

"We weren't initially invited to the meeting you see." Jake said like a child confessing what he had done wrong. "At first we were just passing by but then Charlie had to get us caught when we were eavesdropping. And for some reason instead of apologizing we pissed the Higher Ups even more.

"You mean Dylan pissed the Higher Ups, namely Johnson and Mitchell." Charlie corrected him and Rain slapped the back of his head. "What? If I get to be blamed Dylan gets to be too." He said as his wingmate and girlfriend rolled her eyes.

"And what are you doing here General?" Miradine asked curiously.

"Well we are kind of keeping Dylan and Mitchell separated at the moment." Zarhok said. "It seems in this species they don't duel to solve their disputes like we Orwegians do."

"Not anymore at least" Said David as he enter the room from another door in front of the one Miradine and Tyrion had enteredn through. "Thank you General for offering to babysit." David joked.

"Not a problem." Zarhok said. "It's not like General Mitchell or your Leader were heeding my advice anyway. Plus I like being around impetous people, I wouldn't have minded fighting with the boy if he had not calmed down a little." Director Levinson laughed a little unsure if it was meant to be a joke or not, which Miradine knew it wasn't. The thought made her roll her eyes at her superior as David spoke again.

"Dylan" he said turning to the pilot as he spoke. "You are lucky Mitchell and the Secretary General didn't strip you of your rank and threw you in a cell."

"Director you can't possibly agree with this course of action." Okun countered. "For one month we've been trying to reason with fanatics who might have an operative alien City Destroyer in the near future."

"I don't like it any more than you Okun, but getting angry and confronting your superiors in such a way doesn't bring solutions. It brings more trouble." David said with a tone a of finality. "That being said I might have some good news for you all. It has been decided that we should be prepared to intervene against this insurgents. And you've been assigned to spearhead the possible assault. You will be sent to an ESD's airbase in Spain and await instructions there."

"Do you actually mean to tell us that the Captain's tantrum worked" Charlie said in an incredulous voice making Jake chuckle. Now that they knew the Dylan was out of danger of being punished they seemed to want to tease him a bit although the timing was a bit off in Miradine's opinion. She looked at Dylan, he seemed less angry and frustrated than before although there were still traces of those emotions in his features which now seemed more martial and professional

"But why Spain?" Patricia said. "With our fighters it is possible to arrive in Africa in a short time if they eventually reactivate the ship"

"I suppose General Mitchell would want to put an ocean between him and Dylan for a while." Rain said and Charlie chuckled with a small nod.

"Actually it has been my idea." David replied. "Despite being a supporter of not acting to rashly like General Zarhok said when we first learnt of this situation. Things have taken a turn for the worst. Those Fanatics have grown more dangerous and we still haven't evacuated Umbutu and the rest from the refugee camp, I would rather have you close to the scene in case you are needed there and Spain has one of our closest bases both in the Canary Islands and Andalusia. Also you'll meet an old friend of mine there, the Leader of Scorpion Squadron who along many Fighter squadrons Europe will be supporting you in case of an operation."

"When do we depart?" Dylan finally spoke again.

"Tomorrow afternoon." David replied. "Be sure to be ready." He said as he moved to exit the room.

"It seems the most suitable solution has been found." Tyrion spoke after everyone spent a moment in silence, and the rest of the beings in the room nodded in agreement, then Zarhok looked at Miradine and Tyrion.

"By the way what are you two doing here?" He asked. It annoyed Miradine sometimes how her superior could forget some things if something more interesting grabbed his attention.

"You were supposed to give a report to the Council today." She reminded him without hiding her annoyance while Patricia and Rain looked at her sympathetically as if they too often found themselves in similar situation with the male members of their squadron. Meanwhile the General took a moment to curse in his native language and rushed out of the room with Tyrion following close behind.

"Good luck on your mission." Miradine said before leaving to which the human pilots nodded. She observed their leader for a few seconds as he remained silent and unmoving, deep in thought making Miradine wonder what he was thinking.

"Some humans are really interesting" Miradine muttered to herself before after she left the room and went to follow her companions.

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Colonel Rodrigo Quesada, a bulky brown haired and eyed man, his skin whiter than the tanned people andalusian people often had dressed with a simple t-shirt of the Spanish Air Force and some jeans despite being on his late forties, observed the horizon as the sun was setting over the beautiful city of Seville from one of the bridges over the Guadalquivir river. Being a military pilot rarely gave him the chance to rest or do tourism around the cities of Spain or Europe, especially since the war of 1996 after which he joined the ESD in which some of the most of the iconic cities had been burnt to the ground, so he treasured moments like this one very much. It had taken him three months since he was assigned to Moron Base to finally get the time to explore the city and the man was determined to make the most of it. Then as if to mock him his mobile phone began to ring. Sighing the man picked up.

"Quesada" He said courtly as he waited for the man or woman on the other line to reply, he didn't really bothered to check who was calling.

"Rodrigo?" Sounded the voice of an American man Rodrigo instantly recognized as an old friend of his and the Director of the ESD, David Levinson.

"David?" Rodrigo said letting out a happy laugh. "To what do I owe the pleasure of you calling me. Are you finally marrying that beautiful french girlfriend you got yourself during the last war?" He asked teasingly.

"I'm afraid that's not it." David said in a somewhat tired voice. Rodrigo knew this call was, unsurprisingly just for bussiness.

"What is it?" He asked, his voice now professional.

"Tomorrow night, "Legendary Squadron" will be joining you at your base." David informed him.

"So they've finally decided to put an end to the ridiculous situation in Africa. I've heard these fanatics are about to get themselves a new toy." Rodrigo joked.

"They've decided to prepare some countermeasures." David said. "They hope, or at least Johnson, he won't have to order an attack. He believes his negotiations with Congo will be successful and that the Congolese government will retake the ship for us."

"I still can't believe he was once a military man." Rodrigo said. "He is a bureaucrat through and through."

David chuckled at the other side of the line. "I think Mitchell's thinking the same thing. Although I think matters would be much worse if left only in his hands." There was a certain underlying hostility on David's tone and it didn't escape Rodrigo.

"Wow he must be a jerk if even you lose your patience with the guy." He teased his friend.

"He ended my patience shortly after coming to the HQ" David explained without hiding his hostility for the General making Rodrigo chuckle.

"I think you should have a therapy season with your girlfriend David." He joked. "It won't do you any good to make Mitchell your enemy." The last sentence was as much of a warning as it was a joke.

"It won't do me any good to do therapy either since Catherine also hates him, he has been pressuring her to continue with her research and has been on her like hawk over the past month. I think the only ones who don't hate him yet are the aliens, that being said I don't think they like him either." David replied. "We are going off topic."

"Yeah" Rodrigo said. "But it's rare for you to call me these days so I just wanted to know how you were doing."

"You wanted to pick on me." David said.

"That's a bonus" Rodrigo replied and both men shared a laugh. "Anyway I will be expecting "Legendary Squadron" tomorrow."

"I should be going now." David said. "I have a meeting"

"What happened to the David that used to skip work to go on little adventures?" Rodrigo teased his friend one last time.

"You know those weren't adventures but actual scientific research right?" David replied. "Call me tomorrow when Dylan and the rest arrive."

"Will do." Rodrigo said as David ended the call. Putting his cell phone on his pocket the spanish colonel observed the sunset a second moment and walked away in search of a taxi that would take him back to the base.

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The flight from Area 51 to Morón Air Base in Spain was relatively calm. Besides the usual chatter and banter between the wingmates communications with HQ were few and far between in the four hour flight. Dylan was glad for that, since General Mitchell had wanted to be the one monitoring their travel as if he thought they were going to go with their Fighters elsewere, like for example attacking the enemy camp without permission. The thought had occurred to Dylan that very same night, the risks and dangers of the mission as well as the possible repercussions not only on himself but on the Hostages, Dylan saw no point in calling them otherwise, and the ESD as a whole made it not worth thinking about twice.

"Dylan" Patricia's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "We are approaching Seville, the control tower to reach you."

As it turned out it was true, the voice of a control tower operator from the base spoke shortly after. "Legendary Squadron this is Morón Air Base we have on our radar you are about to enter the air space over Seville please correct your course."

"Morón Air Base this is Legendary Squadron" Dylan replied. "Copy that." As he said that he and his wingmates changed their course, while the base was near the city, no aircraft were allowed to fly over cities, in the military's case unless it was to escort a plane that'd gone off route. After two minutes maneuvering Dylan saw the runway of the base as the operator's voice sounded again."

"Legendary SquadronColonel Quesada and Scorpion Squadron wait for you at Hangar Number 5." The operator said.

"Roger that" Dylan said as he and his squadron proceeded to land their plane's VTOL capabilities near the designated hangar. Many members of the ground crew approached the plane and helped them get off beginnign mainteinance on the H-8s immediately. The Legendary Squadron members joined one another on the ground.

"That went well" Charlie said.

"You say that almost everytime we land lately" Jake said chuckling.

"After our experience last year I can't but compare every flight with that one." He said and Jake nodded knowingly as Patricia and Rain rolled their eyes as Jake slapped the back of Charlie's head making his friend protest as he rubbed it throwing him an annoyed look. Dylan didn't pay much attention to his wingmates as he spotted a group of peoplewho he assumed to be the Scorpion Squadron members near the hangar and approached them with the rest following shortly after.

Dylan saluted the oldest man in the group who he supposed was David's friend and the leader of the Scorpion Squadron. Saluting the man with his wingmates doing so shortly after and prompting the same response from the members of said Squadron. The group was certainly diverse and eerily similar on it's composition to the Legendary squadron although most of them seemed except for one, three white people, two men and a woman, an asian woman, the only member on her twenties, and an african man bulky man who seemed to be second in age only to his commanding officer.

"I'm captain Dylan Dubrow-Hiller, leader of Legendary Squadron." He introduced himself as he offered his hand to the Colonel. Ending the salute the Colonel too his hand shook it.

"Colonel Rodrigo Quesada, leader of Scorpion Squadron and commanding officer of Morón Air Base." He said in a professional and serious voice. "I've heard you've given some trouble to your previous commanding officer." The man added in a serious voice. "I won't stand for insubordination, I want to be very clear on that."

Dylan flinched as he heard this. Throughout all his life on the ESD he had been known for a hardworking and disciplined officer, but now it seemed his disagreement with General Mitchell had tarnished his reputation. However the sensation was shortlived as one of the other members of the Squadron, intervened. He had brown hair and eyes with military haircut and and a well built and not too exagerated complexion, he was white and on his early thirties at most.

"Don't tease him too much colonel" He spoke in a respectful yet amused tone as he smirked, a expression the rest of his squadron seemed to share. Dylan looked at him for a moment, it seemed he was american too. He however looked back at Rodrigo as the man let out a laugh and smiled and Dylan.

"I'm sorry Captain I just couldn't resist but to make a little joke" He said with a friendly smile now. "But it seems Lieutenant Casse likes to spoil other people's fun." He added as he looked at his subordinate. "Welcome to Spain Captain and members of Legendary Squadron" He added looking back at him. Dylan looked back at his wingmates who seemed amused by the superior officer's antics, he then smiled at the man.

"Good to be here sir." He replied as he thought that he could get used to working under such a superior in such a seemingly calm and nice place. However as they followed the other squadron to the debriefing room for an introductory meeting he pushed the thoughts aside, he couldn't enjoy himself too much, he had been sent there for a reason, to intervene as soon as the Insurgents made their move for he felt it, he felt that the period of waiting was about to end. For now it was calm but it was always calm before the storm.


	6. Chapter 5: The Battle of Africa (Part 1)

Hey Dark Cronos here. I'm back after a long pause from writing since I've being busy with, well everything, the end of September and most of October. Don't worry I've been working on this story a little and I've got a few chapters done so I should be able to update weekly now. If I recall correctly I owe you two chapters which I never update it. That's why both will be up this week and the next one I'll just update one. Hope you enjoy reading. Also thank you to those of you who reviewed and even those who offered support, I was glad whenever there was some review or even private messages. I will take your thoughts and ideas into consideration.

LD: I do not own Independence Day.

Chapter 5: The Battle of Africa (part 1)

Jake had to admit that the two weeks Legendary Squadron had spent in Spain so far hadn't been bad at all, the routine hadn't been all that different from that they had back in HQ before the arrival of the aliens, they had a good superior officer and their colleagues of Scorpion Squadron were very nice and likeable as well as really good pilots. From what he'd heard from one of the ground crew of the base, Scorpion squadron, which had been formed by members handpicked by Colonel Quesada a three years ago had played a major part in in the defense of the Iberian Peninsula's west coast during the war of 2016. It also seemed that the Colonel had even before that fought against the aliens over the skies of Barcelona during the war of 1996. Both battles had ended with huge civillian and military losses but the fact the Colonel in '96 and the whole squadron in 2016 had managed to distinguish themselves by taking down many alien Fighters and even an alien city destroyer before the enemy's retreat was praise worthy.

He looked at Dylan as the leader of the Legendary Squadron passed by his side without stopping to talk as he was on the way to the hangar. His friend had been somewhat alert ever since they had arrived at the base. The nervousness of not doing anything about the crazy extremists in Africa that he had felt all throughout the month the ESD had done almost nothing while waiting on the UN's negotiations to succeed or fail. Meanwhile the rest of the squadron had benefitted from their stay in Spain so far, Colonel Quesada was a kind yet strict military leader who wasn't above praising when someone did something right, scold when someone did something wrong and relax and socialize with his subordinates when the situation called for it. He was definitely a good leader and every member of "Legendary Squadron" could see how he and and Director Levinson were good friends.

"Hey" a male voice pulled Dylan out of his thoughts. Looking at the direction he saw Captain Casse and Major Gómez, the Equatorial Guinea man who was the second in command of "Scorpion Squadron". Jake saluted both men and they both returned the salute both grinning at their junior colleague. Captain Troy Casse was a good natured man who was always joking and had done the most to help the members of Legendary and Scorpion squadrons socialize and get along both on the ground and on the air with a certain degree of success. He was the son of the man who had been known to be the last casualty of the war of '96 who had sacrificed himself for the sale of the alien's defeat and had considered it his duty to follow on his father's footsteps and become a pilot. Major Gómez had been born in 1975 on the former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea, however when he was just a baby his parents had taken him to Spain where the family had set their new home. He had lost two brothers during the war of '96 and a nephew during the war '16 however he was kind and funloving, as far as Jake could tell, while also being professional and extremely devoted to his job and the colonel as they had been flying together for so many years, since the battle of Barcelona.

"We saw Dylan entering the hangar" Troy said. "Is he going to check his Fighter again?"

"It seems like it" Jake said. Ever since arriving to Morón air base, Dylan had made a habit of checking his Fighter at least twice a day, not because he didn't trust the ground crew who maintained the Fighters but because, Jake suspected, he was awaiting the order to take off.

"He'll meet the colonel then." Troy said with a small smile and Carlos, Major Gómez's first name, nodded with a smile of his own.

"What?" Jake asked curiously.

"It seems the Higher Ups are up to something, some big breakthrough during the negotiations with Congo and they told the Colonel." Said the femenine voice of Scorpion Squadron's youngest member spoke as she approached the group with Patricia, Rain and Isabel, the other female member of Scorpion squadron, a tall brunette canarian with tanned skin and curves that mostly caught the attention of her male companions, who yearned for her but couldn't have her because she was already taken and had a family making the unknown man one of the most hated people in Morón air base.

"Hey Fujiko" greeted Troy with a wave. "Isa"

Fujiko Koda nodded. She was a Japanese woman who'd joined the ESD's really young, at 17 years old with special permission from his father, a former japanese embassador to Spain, and had been the genious of the ESD's European Air academy. By all accounts she was considered be destined to become one of the greatest pilots of the ESD. However she had como across a huge obstacle. A superior officer who liked to use his rank to get his female subordinates into bed with him had tried to do the same with her. It hadn't worked and apparently the superior had been sent to the hospital resulting in her almost getting expelled from the academy and not being allowed to join a flight squadron until the Colonel and Isabel, who often worked as the Colonel's assistant, found her and brought her to the Scorpion Squadron where she definitely became it's ace.

"What do you mean?" Jake said. "If there has been a breakthrough, doesn't that mean that we will be able to solve the situation without intervening."

"Our Colonel always does that when there is good news from the higher ups. He doesn't really trust them so he always checks the Fighters and makes sure personally that they are ready for take off." Isabel explained with a small smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if..." Before she finished what she was saying a voice resounded through the base.

"All pilots of the Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons are expected to be present at the hangar within five minutes." A voice said.

"That happened" Isabel finished her sentence with a chuckle as the eight pilots rushed towards the hangar where they found Dylan speaking with the colonel. The Captain of Legendary Squadron was nodding in agreement to something the colonel was saying. When they arrived the eight pilots saluted and stood at attention awaiting their orders.

"At ease" Rodrigo finally said as he looked at them and returned the salute. "I'm sure some if not all of you know, the UN has struck a deal with the Congolese government to evacuate our personnel, and I'm including mr Umbutu and his in this category, from the UN refugee camp and to allow access to the ship again, taking it from insurgent hands of course. So to celebrate, Captain Dubrow-Hiller and I would like to make a celebratory flight in honor of this historic achievement."

No one asked nothing, they all knew what he was saying. The agreement with the Congolese government had been reached and the Congolese government was sure to honor it. But the ship was in the hands of the rebels and even though the ship shouldn't be ready to work again yet, if by any chance the rebels resisted until it was or if by some miracle it already was they would have to be ready. Plus there was always the chance they could offer support to the congolese forces in their efforts to retake the ship.

"So where to?" Charlie asked finally voicing the thoughts of the others. The colonel smiled at them and even Dylan had a small smile on his face.

"Do the Canary Islands sound good?"

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Umbutu observed as the transport planes as they began landing on the congolese air base near the refugee camp. It had been a hard one month and a half for him and his men, specially in the beginning. The UN forces and the refugee camp inhabitants weren't pleased with their presence and more than a fight, fistfights mostly, had broken out, heck he'd almost gotten in a few fistfights as well as most of his first discussions with the commander of the camp Colonel Dumas, specially when the congolese army completely surrounded the refugee camp which somewhat rightfully Dumas blamed on Umbutu and his men seeking refuge on it.

However as time passed the people within the camp had seemingly reached a silent agreement. They were all in the same situation and they all had to do their best to survive said situation, as such petty fights between them were harming and unnecessary. While they never became the best of friends and they always kept their distance, Umbutu's men and the rest of the camp learned to coexist with one another, specially after Umbutu and Dumas had sternly warned their own men about continued conflict and reached an agreement themselves not to kill each other through Rosenberg's mediation, which his friend extende to all the camp working himself nearly to exhaustion making sure both sides didn't kill each other and serving as a messenger between Umbutu's men and the rest of the camp, thankfully Dumas and Umbutu developed a begrudging respect for one another and were on speaking terms and that understanding Rosenberg had helped create meant he didn't have to mediate between the two since them.

"I can't believe we are actually leaving" Rosenberg said as he reached his side. "Or that they are evacuating the whole camp."

"There are other places here in Congo and in neighbouring countries as well where they will be safe. Perhaps the government will relocate them back here when this is over." Umbutu absentmindedly.

"Aren't you sad you have to leave your land?" Rosenberg replied.

"It is a reality I'd come to terms with long ago. Ever since I was a child I always knew that the government, other rebels or the aliens could take our lands and kill us. God knows the aliens tried so far for many years." Umbutu said. "La République Nationale d'Umbutu was my father's dream. For me it was the only reality I knew but deep down I always yearned for moreespecially after he sent me to study abroad." He smiled at the shocked expression Rosenberg had at this new information about him studying abroad. "Perhaps that's why I joined you on your adventure last year, and the cooperating in an intergalactic fight against the aliens isn't a bad adventure either."

"I was never an adventurous type back then." Rosenberg said as he smiled himself as he got over the shock. Umbutu laughed heartily at that.

"Yes you were." He said as he slapped his friend's back. "You had an adventurer and a warrior inside you your whole life you only had to find them."

"Talking about heroes, the colonel asked me to give you his regards." Rosenberg said and Umbutu looked around. He hadn't realized it but there were not UN soldiers around, there were only a few congolese soldiers around, from the ground crew and the military police, each doing their assigned jobs, guiding the planes and controlling the refugees.

"Where is he?" Umbutu asked and Rosenberg sighed.

"The secretary general wants all able hands to help with the recuperation of the alien ship." He informed him. "Dumas and his men have been ordered to back the congolese forces."

"I see" Umbutu said. "Perhaps we should stay too. I want to pay Massamba and his people for what they've done."

"We are just getting out and you want to get back to that hell?" Rosenberg asked in an incredulous voice.

"We are ESD personnel." Umbutu smiled. He wanted to thank Okun for his urging of the United Nations, David and the new ESD's general Mitchell to incorporate Umbutu and his men as ESD personnel. Without mentioning their past services he had argued they would be huge assets in the future and they just couldn't leave them in the hands of the congolese and it had worked. Umbutu and his men had been made an official unit of the ESD's military in a rather unorthodox manner with Umbutu being made major.

"Umbutu" Rosenberg warned but before he could finish his friends was heading towards the rest of his men to give instruction. Sighing Rosenberg followed suit as his inner warrior urged him forward.

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Samuel Massamba had not obtained the pleasure he thought he would out of killing Mr Ibaka. The young congolese bureaucrat had come to tell him of the decision of the congolese government to liberate Umbutu and the refugees. The encirclement of the refugee camp had been left only to the congolese military after, a decision Massamba was regretting now but at the time seemed logical at the time since he needed his men for other things and he hadn't thought twice about then. However the Congolese were letting the first targets he had selected for purification escape, especially Umbutu who was an heretic who'd murdered hundreds of god's messengers, that was worth the death penalty he had executed on the young bureaucrat, who besides had had the nerve to ask him to stand down and cede the control over the ship to the government. That had been what had truly eliminated any doubts he might have had over eliminating him and let him shoot the bureaucrat without remorse several times on the chest and head and leave her dead corpse on the ground of Umbutu's presidential office

However as soon as he was finished the sounds of gunfire began sounding on the edges of the camps and his men found himself fighting a defensive battle against the Congolese military. Massamba growled, the ship was almost done, they couldn't afford to lose before they could use it. Everything seemed to be futile though as his men fell easily to the Military's superior fire power and soon he found himself leading his men in a desperate retreat towards the ship as he fought off both the congolese military and the UN forces.

As hours passed and more of his men fell, Massamba realized that their only option was to fortify themselves inside the Ship, and hope to god and his messenger that Henry and his scientists could get it to take off somehow. Relaying the orders to his commanders he ordered the men inside the ship to allow them inside. All his subordinates obeyed and a few minutes laters he and his remaining men found themselves entering the ship, forcing the Congo and UN to surround the downed ship and begin bombarding with artillery and combat helicopters, however Henry and the rest of the scientist weren't ones to fail Massamba and had managed to get the ship's shields up and running so the artillery shells and missiles from the helicopters impacter harmlessly on the ship.

Massamba moved towards the bridge of the ship as his men found a place to camp and tend to their wounded. Samuel had been on the ship many times but it was only now that he was in a hurry that he realized how huge it was, although not as huge as the Harvester Queen's mothership. Pushing those thoughts aside he increased his speed there was no time to do some tourism around the ship. He had to get to the bridge and talk with the scientists, they should hurry with the preparation, the ship had to take off as soon as possible and get out of the planet, the purging of this impious planet would have to wait until they returned hopefully with a fleet of God's messengers. After ten minutes of walking and planning at least seven contingency plans now that their main plan had been spoilt he arrived at the bridge of the ship where Henry and the rest of the scientist moved around nervously performing different tasks.

"Henry" Massamba called Wong who turned to see his leader. "Can this ship get off planet?"

"Theoretically yes, but there are many things left to do before take off." Henry replied. Massamba growled.

"Brother this planet is no longer safe." He said. "We must take off now and go meet God's messengers. If this ship can take off we will take off, you will have to do the rest of the reparations during on route to our destination."

"That's incredibly dangerous. We could die!" Henry protested and Massamba pulled out his gun.

"Either we take off now or I begin killing scientists!" Massamba screamed a hint of insanity on his voice as he grinned disturbingly. "Your choice" He added as he pointed his gun at another scientist, a young taiwanese woman called Li Na, who'd been Henry's protegée for a while.

"Alright!" Henry said. "Alright we'll take off. But I'll need at least a day to make sure it won't explode upon take off." He explained and Massamba smiled at the scietist lowering his weapon.

"That was what I wanted to hear." Massamba said.

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David observed the screens of the ESD's control room where the faces of Umbutu, Rosenberg, a UN colonel named Dumas and the Congolese commander in charge of the operation to take back the ship, Alexander Youlou, a bulky young african man who didn't seem to be over thirty yet his look was that of a seasoned veteran fighter. David looked at General Mitchell who was standing at his side. Of course the first comment was to blame or point out another person's mistake.

"Mr. Umbutu, Mr. Rosenberg why are you still in Congo?" He asked "Do you know how hard it was to let the congolese government to take you out."

"I couldn't leave here without paying Massamba back for the treatment he gave my men and I General. The scientists have been loaded onto the planes with the information they got from the ship and are heading towards your HQ right now." Umbutu replied without paying much attention to the General's look. "My men and I are as of now members of the ESD and if I'm not mistaking the Secretary General has ordered all forces under the UN to aid the congolese forces in taking control of the ship."

David forced himself to suppress a smirk and as far as he could both Rosenberg and commander Dumas were doing the same. Everything Umbutu had said was technically true so General Mitchell couldn't really argue with him. Clearing his throat to hide his irritation at Umbutu's remarks the General looked at Colonel Dumas.

"How is the battle proceding Colonel?" He asked the french man who immediately hid his previous expression under a mask of professionality.

"Our forces have gained much ground during our initial assault." Dumas reported. "The enemy has fallen back towards the ship and had fortified themselves there. We are proceeding to bomb it with artillery and combat helicopters but they seem to have the ship's shields up. We are not doing anything to it yet."

"My government is willing to deploy more men and firepower to the assault but they won't arrive until tomorrow morning." Major Youlou added and Mitchell nodded.

"Do you think you will be able to breach it then?" Mitchell said. "We know the enemy is trying to get the ship airborne, we must avoid that at all costs."

"Perhaps not" David interjected and everyone looked at him waiting for him to elaborate on his statement. "I believe it would be good if the insurgents get the ship airborne. It would work to our advantage in this case."

"Could you please stop being so cryptic and explain yourself already Director Levinson?" Mitchell asked irritated.

"What the director wants to say" Sounded Okun's voice as he entered the room followed by the Prophet, which had had repaired it's self propulsion sistems by the aliens and now floated around to move around the base pretty much independently. "Is that if the ship takes off, they will have to reroute much of the power that they are using for the shields right now towards the rest of the systems. And if our calculations are correct the ship will be most vulnerable there as the ship is not fully repaired anyway."

David nodded with a small smile of his own while General Mitchell glared at Okun and the Prophet. "How did you know what we were talking about?" the General asked but both of them ignored them and the rest didn't seem to mind as much.

"So we have to let it take off." Colonel Dumas said. "Should we stop our assault then?"

"No" David replied. "Keep it up until you see it take off, we don't want Massamba to suspect we are planning anything else."

"Shall I tell my government to bring AA artillery and guns then?" Youlou asked and David nodded.

"That's probably a good idea but I believe we will also need the intervention of some H-8s if we want our plan to be successful." He looked at one of the Control room's operators. "Get me Colonel Quesada" He ordered and the young woman nodded.

"What are you doing director?" The General asked, clearly displeased that David was undermining his authority but David did not care. The General was the Military leader of the ESD but David was it's equal, or even his superior, he was the director. This thought surprised him, when president Adams was the ESD's general in charge, David had never thought like this even when he didn't agree with him. He realized that in the end most of the time he trusted General Adams and his decisions and even understood why he did what he did when he was wrong, for example when he ordered the Prophet's ship down. However as of now he couldn't trust Mitchell's decisions, despite knowing he was a good military man, or at least he had been during the war of '96.

"I'm solving the problem General." He replied ignoring the glare Mitchell threw him

"Director, the people from Morón Air Base have told me that both Legendary and Scorpion Squadrons have departed for Gando Air Base on the Canary Islands, earlier today." The operator informed them. David smiled seeing that Rodrigo had already foreseen this situation and Mitchell seemed outraged.

"Under whose orders!?" Mitchell asked furiously.

"Contact Gando Air Base." David simply ordered and the operator got to it ignoring General Mitchell's constant protests while the officers on the screen observed the general with mix of pity and disdain that they hid immediately when he looked back at them and then glared at David again.

"The Secretary General will know about this." He said before storming off. Just as he did one previously turned off screen turned off and Rodrigo appeared on screen.

"Gentlemen, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call" he greeted all of them. "Could it be that you require my assistance?"

"Stop fooling around." David told his friend sternly as he hid a small smile. "We will need Scorpion and Legendary squadrons tomorrow, probably as soon as sunrise in Europe." Rodrigo nodded without dropping his smile.

"Let me guess, the rebels have not been as obedient as the Secretary General and the Congolese government thought." Rodrigo said

"We are currently besieging the ship but they have managed to put the shields up and we doubt that we could breach it." Dumas spoke. "We could really use your help colonel."

"So what's the plan?" Rodrigo said with a more professional air.

"Director Levinson believes that the ship will be more vulnerable after it takes off." Commander Youlou explained. "We would need you and your men's help then to take it down."

"I see, I do have one question." Rodrigo said, after seemingly think about what the congolese had said. "Does the ship have it's weapon's systems active?"

"They are not using their weapons, they have taken a defensive stance" Rosenberg informed him. "We don't really know if they are inactive or that the enemy doesn't know how to use them"

"I see" Rodrigo said and he looked at David directly. "How many Fighters will be supporting this operation?"

"I think your Scorpion Squadron and Dylan's Legendary Squadron will be enough to deal with this. You will have the support fro the ground forces and the helicopters" David replied and Rodrigo made a face of displeasure

"So our support ends at twelve thousand feet at most if we don't take into account the helis which would be our support which is probably not enough support to take it down huh?" Rodrigo said. "Let's hope we can take it down before then."

"I had heard that Scorpion and Legendary Squadron were some of the best squadrons the ESD had to offer" Youlou spoke again. "Why are you this scared?"

Rodrigo looked at the screen where he was also seeing Youlou. "Major do you know how I've been able to survive this long in this Profession?" He asked and Major Youlou shook his head. "By being reckless when I have to be reckless but never fully abandoning all caution. Even the weakest enemies can give you very nasty surprises and these insurgents aren't weak by any definition of the word." Rodrigo explained. "The Legendary and Scorpion Squadrons might be good or as you said some of the best but even the best squadrons fall sometimes." Youlou went silent, clearly ashamed of having practically called Rodrigo a coward and nodded silently. Rodrigo smiled at the man reassuring him that he wasn't angry. He then looked at David. "Do you want us to fly to Congo now?"

David shook his head. "It won't be necessary yet. With the H-8's speed you will be able to arrive at the scene in no time. Although it will be necessary that you all report to me or general Mitchell as soon as it seems the enemy is prepared to take off." All the military officers nodded and David smiled. "Ok I'll better let you go now then" he said and cut the connection with them.

"It's amazing that even after that childish tantrum you think that Mitchell will cooperate with the operation." Okun said and David smiled at his colleague.

"He will, he is the ESD's highest ranking military officer and he takes his job seriously." David replied as rubbed both sides of his head. "My head hurts"

"I expect it will much more stronger headache tomorrow if Mitchell continues to behave like he has until now during the night." Okun said chuckling and David groaned. "By the way Catherine promised me a good dinner tonight, when are you leaving so that we can go together."

It was David's turn to chuckle then. Ever since realizing that Okun couldn't be trusted to take care of himself, Catherine had made it her mission to make sure he had a good dinner every night and even sleep sometimes. But as he observed his clock he observed that it was barely three in the afternoon.

"It's just noon, why are you already talking about dinner?" David asked and Okun chuckled.

"Well taking into account the operation could be as soon as early morning in Europe, I believe we won't have much sleep tonight." Okun said with a small smile. Since I won't be enjoying such a delicious dinner and we will both need our sleep, I believe it will be better if we organize a midafternoon dinner."

"Do you actually intend to be up for the operation?" David asked. "You know I could just tell you in the morning here."

"Those rebels ruined my operation in Africa to the point where the ship will probably be destroyed and all it's information lost" Okun said. "You bet I will be there to see the bastards fall."

"Alright alright. You got a point." David said knowing it would be futile to argue. He turned and looked at the Prophet. "Would you mind informing the Resistance of our plans? I know we've worried them with this situation and it would be good to let them know they will finally have our full cooperation."

"I will Doctor Levinson" The alien sphere replied as it exited the room.


	7. Chapter 6: The Battle of Africa (Part 2)

Here is the other chapter I promised today. I hope you enjoy it.

LD: I do not own Independence Day.

Chapter 6: The Battle of Africa (part 2)

Doctor Henry Wong worked tirelessly on the alien ship's bridge trying to get all the systems to function properly before take off. Even though the artillery shells and missiles from the helicopters impacted harmlessly on the City Destroyer which didn't mean the computer didn't the attack alarm always on as the shields were working at full power during the whole time. However Henry Wong didn't really pay much attention to all of that. Insteas in his mind there were only two things, the first one was to get the ship to work as soon as possible since he knew his life and the lives of his colleagues depended on it.

The second was finding a way to escape the ship before it took off. He observed Li Na as she worked besides him, there were still traces of fear on her features and her hands were still trembling a little. It was logical, even though in the back of his head his rational self had always told him Massamba was little more than a beast and that what he intended to do was wrong, he had pushedfy those thoughts away and hand decided to follow the man in a blind way. Yes Massamba was brutal and a beast but he had never channeled that brutality towards him or the other scientists. He had treated with kindness, he'd treated them with respect and had rarely threatened them or rose his voice with them, much less almost shoot them. That had helped Henry's faith on his leader to remain strong and unwavering.

That had ended now though, now he knew Massamba was not a religious leader he was a madman, a dictator who used the excuse of religion to rule his followers and some sweet talk to seduce and deceive them. Now as he observed his protegée he knew that he didn't really want to be a part of this anymore. He didn't want Massamba to meet up with God's messengers, or as he saw them again the monsters that had taken his family away from him. But he could not do anything about it he could only trust the UN would take it down, in fact he knew there were huge possibilities of the ship being blown up during take off as soon as they diverted the energy they were using for the shields to the rest if the systems.

So how was he going to escape before the ship took off. Observing his protegée again he shook his head. How were they going to escape. Li Na was in that mess because of him, he had introduced her to Massamba during her student days when she had being studying in Hong Kong for a year. She was away from home, alone, young and naive, it had been easy for Massamba to convince her to work for him, using her deceased younger sister like he had used Henry's family. He definitely had to get her out of there.

He went to the main computer and began observing the map of the ship, the repairs and preparations were almost complete, it would be less than two hours before the ship was ready for take off. Under the guise of checking the systems Henry looked for possible escape routes, however the harder he looked the more difficult it seemed to him. Then he smiled. He was overthinking things there wasn't a necessity for them to get off the ship before it took off. Actually after take off they had more possibilities of getting out even if it was dangerous. He looked at the map of the ship again and located a few of the escape pods and smiled. There was one near one of the ship' main reactor control room and the main reactor was most likely to fail during after take off, the works on it had been done in a rush and they would have to monitor it closely, Li Na and himself could pretend to go there to keep things under control and slip out towards the escape pods as soon as there was a chance.

Yes that would work. That would most certainly work and the pods had shields of their own so the risk of one or two of them being destroyed by the UN were almost none a risk he could eliminate completely if he launched more than a pod. Then only one thing remained now, he had to make sure that the UN didn't throw them in jail or at least give them a chance not to be thrown in jail. He had to bring them something. He had heard that some scientists had been working to extract information from the ship's main computer albeit at a rather slow pace. Now that the main computer was fully functional he coul extract some more information much quicker although he wasn't sure how much although he guessed any new information they could give could easily give them a chance of surviving and being free.

With this new plan in mind he looked at Li Na. "Li Na I need a word with you" he told her. The younger scientist nodded and began to follow him away from the rest of the scientists at the bridge. Once he was sure no one could hear them he explained his plan to her at first a little nervously but as he saw her expression change to a hopeful one he smiled. She was definitely on board with the plan, now they just had to wait.

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Colonel Dumas observed as the missiles impacted harmlessly against the ship again and growled. They had been attacking almost nonstop since the rebels had fortified themselves there wasting ammunition without apparent damage. He knew that the plan wasn't for them to destroy the ship but to observe it until it took off. From a military point of view the plan wasn't that bad if it wasn't for all the ammo they wasted and not exactly because Dr. Levinson who'd proposed the plan but because major Youlou's superiors, they were intent on destroying the thing before the ESD got there, Dumas supposed because they thought they could still obtain something from the UN if they did so after the ship who'd been the key to their negotiations was gone.

He felt someone approaching him from behind and turned to see Mr. Rosenberg, who he'd been surprised to learn held the rank of sargeant, something he had not say during his and Umbutu's stay on his camp despite the fact that he had been wearing similar military wear to that of Umbutu's men, he'd assumed there was a reason for that but not that he was on the ESD's military.

"Sargeant" he greeted him by his rank prompting Rosenberg to salute something that didn't seem unnatural to him. "Are there any news from the men surrounding the ship?" He asked him although he already could see that the answer wasn't affirmative.

Youlou had placed Umbutu, Rosenberg and the remnants of Umbutu's men on the first line keeping watch around the ship for possible external rebel activity. Dumas supposed it was a form of vengeance, since neither he or his men could touch Umbutu or his men due to them being now members of the ESD he put them at the front of the UN forces to fight off any possible rebel attacks and get the casualties of said skirmishes, even though Massamba and his men were very unlikely to come, but still forced them to be alert and fully awake the whole time.

"I'm afraid not sir" Rosenberg spoke professionally. "Things have been boring on the frontlines."

"And how is Umbutu taking it. He said he wanted a piece of Massamba but chances of that are low." Dumas said.

"The major knows the plan and will stick to it." Rosenberg said. "However the same cannot be said from the rest of the men. They are terribly bored."

"Figures." Dumas said. "Has there any sign that the ship is taking off."

"Aside from the lights being on not yet" Rosenberg said.

"Well it's already morning and if the sun isn't up yet, let's hope that they fall into our trap soon." Dumas said as he turned to look at the ship again. As soon as the the UN Colonel said that the radio came alive and from it came Umbutu's voice.

"There are noises coming from the ship I think they are readying the ship for take off" the former rebel leader informed.

"Roger that. Fall back Commander." Dumas replied. "I don't know how their propulsors work but let's guess they could fry you if you stand near it when it takes off."

"Roger that" Umbutu replied and the radio went silent. Dumas looked at Rosenberg.

"I'll go inform Youlou of the developments, can you contact the ESD to inform them that we may need that air support now.

"Yes sir" Rosenberg replied and both men separated to do their tasks.

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David, Okun and Catherine entered the HQ's control room where Mitchell was already waiting for them which was surprising since it had only been 10 minutes since they were informed them of the movement of the alien ship and his home was further away from the base than Catherine and David's home. Whatever the case was, David was somehow glad, despite knowing that Okun's earlier warning of a headache caused by Mitchell would likely be true. The General looked at them and it was clear that their presence displeased him. Then he looked at Catherine, a woman he'd been pressuring to continue with the study of the Telepathic conection of certain people with the aliens and how they could use it to their advantage only to be frustrated by her deliverate, or so he suspected, slow pace.

"What is she doing here?" He asked David. David could have replied but he had an inkling that the response would not please the general since she just had tagged along not admitting David's protests especially knowing the Headache could get stronger with her there.

"I came because such operations can be stressful and some members of Legendary Squadron still suffer from mental problems from the latest war." Catherine replied professionally. David did not like that she was using Patricia and to a lesser degree Dylan and Rain as an excuse, even if they had been doing better lately according to Rodrigo, Jake and Charlie. "I'm here to see if I can help them somehow."

"It seems you can do anything" Mitchel retorted. "Everything but the job the ESD is paying you for."

Catherine was ready to reply but David was quick to prevent a fight from breaking in the control room during such an important operation. He should have insisted more for Catherine to remain at home but she said she had slept during the same time David had and she couldn't sleep anymore even if she wanted to. Now he could only deal with the consequences.

"What's the status of the enemy ship?" He asked one of the operations, prompting annoyed looks from Mitchell and Catherine who seemed overly eager to be at each other's throats.

"It seems that they are heating their engines and preparing for take off sir." The operator replied.

"Have you contacted Gando Air Base?" David asked.

"Yes sir, Legendary and Scorpion Squadrons are airborne and heading towards the target. The estimated time of arrival is T minus 20 minutes." The operator replied.

"Director Levinson let me remind you that I'm the highest ranking military officer here, I am the one in charge of this operation" Mitchell said.

"Then by all means begin giving instructions General" David said. "I will shut up as soon as you take charge." Mitchell glared at him again but David found that his glares were no longer very effective on him since he had that expression on the whole time.

"Get me Colonel Quesada" Mitchell ordered and one of the operators nodded as he began contacting the Squadron leader. A few seconds later Rodrigo's voice resounded in the room.

"Scorpion Leader here" He said, his voice was professional and devoid of any humor. David smiled relieved that his friend was so concentrated on the mission.

"Scorpion Leader this is Base one" Mitchell spoke. "What's your status? Over"

"We are a little over fifteen minutes from reaching the objective sir. Fully fueled and fully armed. Over." Rodrigo replied.

"Do you have a plan of attack?" Mitchell asked.

"We planned to attack as a single group and concentrate our firepower on a single spot until we breach the hull of the enemy ship. Over " Rodrigo replied.

"Good report to us when you arriver. Base One over and out" Mitchell said.

"Yes sir. Scorpion Leader over and out" Rodrigo replied. David sighed, so far it seemed that everything was going according to plan however a City Destroyer wasn't an easy enemy to take out and in the hands of those lunatics it was more dangerous than ever before. He suddered as he thought of the possibility of failure but then pushed those thoughts to the back of his head. They were going to win, the City Destroyer's last repairs had been rushed so it shouldn't be as possible as those from the previous wars, and it was operated by humans who would pilot it for the first time. They were going to win.

"Honey are you alright?" Asked Catherine pulling him out of his thoughts. David looked at her for a few moments and saw concern on her face, it seemed that his thoughts were visibles and his worries had worried his girlfriend and Okun, if Mitchell had seen him he didn't show it.

"Yeah sorry, I just spaced out for a bit." David said smiling softly. Catherine nodded unconvinced and with a look that told him they were going to talk about it later, although they had nothing to talk about, it had been just a moment of worry.

"Sir" one of the operators said looking at David and not looking at Mitchell. "The ground troops on Congo are reporting the ship is taking off!"

"Contact Colonel Quesada and tell him to hurry up!" Mitchell interjected before David could reply although it was the same order he was going to give, they had to shoot that thing down now.

"Show me a visual." David ordered and one of the screens showed him what he wanted, the massive alien ship was rising from the ground once more with the ability to wreck havoc wherever it went.

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Samuel Massamba smiled as he felt the City Destroyer go up. The moment of truth was here, the moment to leave this worthless planet and join God's messengers on their heavenly mission to purge all the infidel beings of the Universe. Henry had assured he had worked to undo all the blocks they had implemented on the ship to prevent the main fleet, the Harvester queen, from calling it back since they no longer wanted to destroy cities on their own. The prospect of meeting and offering himself to God's messengers was very interesting to him. The ship shook a little and pulled him out of his thoughts and he observed his men and the several scientists he had manning the bridge.

"What was that?" He asked annoyedly

"When we took off we had to reroute the majority of the energy we were spending on the shield generators towards the rest of the ship, the repaired reactors have not really gone through the trial runs and we are keeping them at 75% from their full capacity and don't want to risk overheating." one of the scientists, a european man spoke.

Massamba let out an exhasperated sigh, truth was aside from Henry he didn't really like the scientists. More than once he had been tempted to kill them all but the hongkonger. He looked at the comms operator.

"Contact Dr Wong on the Reactors control room. Ask him if we can utilize full energy yet." He ordered as the ship continued shaking. It was clear that even if most of the heavy weapons the humans were using was from the time previous to the war of '96 they were giving them quite the ride.

"Doctor Wong says it's better to wait a little, the generators are working fine now but he says he can't guarantee our safety at full power." The operator informed him and Massamba approached his post taking the comm away from him.

"Henry why can't we use the generators at full power?" Massamba demanded to know. "We could use the extra energy."

"We can't use that energy yet" Henry informed him as he panted, it was as if he had made some kind some kind of exercise recently. "The reactors are not fully repaired and are not stable yet, we are still working on them, please be patient."

"How long will it take?" Massamba asked with a sigh. He trusted Henry if the Head Scientist said they needed time it was because it was true and rushing him like he had done the previous day wouldn't work.

"A couple of hours" Henry replied. "We will be out of Earth and on our way by then" The Scientist added and Massamba smiled satisfied with that and returned to his seat giving the comms back to the operator when a stronger hit was felt throughout the ship. "Can we use our weapons system?" he asked in frustration.

"I believe we can." The scientist from earlier replied, seemingly eager to please Massamba after disappointing him earlier. Massamba smiled and looked at the operator again. "Contact the weapon's room" He ordered. "Tell them to return fire."

The operator relayed his orders and a couple of minutes later the enemy attacks decreased in intensity, Massamba smiled eve wider, it seemed he'd gotten to purge some heretics before leaving Earth. Suddenly one of the operators looked at him panicked.

"Sir" Someone has launched the escape pods near the Reactor Control Room. Massamba narrowed his eyes. Some of his followers were deserting him? Abandoning their sacred mission? That had to be punished, punished by death"How many?" He asked remaining calm

"All of them." the operator said. "About twenty"

He looked at the operator in charge of the contact with their gunners. "Shoot them down! Every single one!" He then looked at the Comms operator. "Contact the Guards near Doctor Wong's position and tell them to check on the situation." The operator nodded and then went pale.

"We are unable to contact any of the guards at the Control room and Doctor Wong doesn't respond either." He reported. Massamba growled and let a roar that terrified everyone at the control room. He was having an idea of what was happening and he didn't like it at all. "Sir we've reported to the second nearest station, they are sending men right now." The bridge waited in silence for two long minutes that seemed years.

"Sir the guards at the Reactor Control Room are unconscious and so are the guards, that were near the pods. Doctor Wong and Dr Li Na Lee are gone." The Operator reported. Sadly it was the last report he would give in his life as Massamba pulled his weapon and executed him out of anger. Henry Wong had betrayed him! The Bastard! He had dropped out of their sacred campaign to purge all infidels! But he was going to pay! He would make him and his stupid protegée

"Did you gun the pods down!?" He asked the other operator.

"A-a-all but five sir" the operator replied completely terrified. And rightfully so, because Massamba was about to kill him too, stopping just at the last moment, reminding himself he was in need of his operators. Holstering his weapon he looked at one of the guards near his seat.

"Clean that up" he ordered pointing to the corpse of the dead operator. "And find me another operator." He added. The guard nodded and proceeded to obey his orders just as the voice of the radar operator sounded.

"Sir" The female operator said.

"Now what!" Asked Massamba angrily.

"Enemy Fighters. Ten of them." The woman reported and Massamba couldn't help b ut think that his plan was going to hell fast.

"Wipe them out!" He ordered sitting back on his chair.

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Rodrigo and the members of Legendary and Scorpion squadrons flew towards the enormous enemy ship that was now some thousand feet off the ground. If the radio reports were correct the at least half the allied artillery had been taken out by the City Destroyer while they had not delicered any damageand the rest would without a doubt be destroyed should they fail to destroy it soon. He couldn't say he was surprised since Congo and many African countries lacked some of the more advanced weapon systems created after the war of '96 and aside from laser assault rifles they had almost no modern artillery, helicopters or fighters and if they had some he doubted the bureaucrats at Brazzaville would movilize them.

"Ok guys they hour of truth" He said as they came closer to the ship. "On our first passing we will divide ourselves in groups of two and look for a weak spot on that thing."

"Roger" The members of both squadrons replied in unison as they proceeded to do so. Suddenly the enemy ship began firing on them, it seemed they were in range of it's AA weapons. The five groups of two separated and took evasive action. Rodrigo looked at his wingman and he recognized the Fighter as Dylan.

"Decrease your speed Dylan" he ordered as he saw the young pilot was accelerating to end the first passing.

"Eh? But!" Dylan protested.

"Our mission on this passing is to find a weak spot on that thing. We have to slow down so we can look more throughly." Rodrigo interrupted him. Dylan sighed loudly on the radio and decreased it's speed. Several shots impacted on the fighters but after the war of 2016 the Prophet or the Sphere had helped the humans improve their H-8 Fighters by installing a shield generator on them so they were basically harmless although the Fighter's computer warning signal appeared and the Fighters shook a little.

"They are good" Dylan said. "Better than I thought they would be." Rodrigo had to agree, whether ther enemy's guns were automatic or were manned they could become a problem if the battle went on for too long.

"How is it going everyone?" He asked the rest of his wingmates. "Have you found any weak spot on this son of a bitch."

"Jake and I have found something" Came Carlos's voice through the radio. "We have found a place where the ship it's damaged. It's energy shields are weakest there."

Rodrigo observed the ship as Dylan and him finished flying under it. He had hoped that it's weak spot would be near it's laser weapon under it as always. But since it's laser perforer was off it seemed that the usual weak spot was no good. "Everyone head towards Jake and Carlos's position" He ordered as he and Dylan maneuvered their Fighters to head towards it. "Now you can accelerate" He told Dylan who increased it's speed together with him as several laser shots failed their target.

When the squadrons regrouped, Rodrigo scanned the area in search of the spot Carlos and Jake had found. It was easy to find as it was a rather large area and there seemed to be damage of the artillery attack.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Shoot the thing dow" Sounded General Mitchell's voice through the radio. He had been wondering when he would speak again, he had been oddly silent since the beginning of the flight. He sounded impatient, however Rodrigo paid him no mind.

"Alright" he finally he formulated his plan of attack. "The weak spot has few AA guns around it but it would be wise to take them down before they screw us over with those. Scorpion squadron will take care of the remaining guns, Legendary will concentrate their fire on that zone of the ship." He ordered before leading the charge. The enemy AA guns concentrated their fire on nthem but they as they were scarce it didn't take them long to get rid of them and finish their first strike, diving under the ship where some other AA guns from other zones of the enemy ship locked onto them and shot, however the shields deflected the shots perfectly and quickly took their distance before going in for another attack. The first few passings didn't seem to have any results, showing that even at it's weakest spot the ship was a tough opponent.

Their Fighters however had felt the consequences of several attack rounds, as their energy was one third down and their shields were at half power. To the stress of their little advance General Mitchell decided to add to their stress by shouting unnecessary orders as he grew more nervous and impatient until David shut him up, although Rodrigo didn't know exactly how.

"Ok, let's go again" He told his wingmates as they flew towards the City Destroyer again. Like the previous times the Fighters concentrated the fire on the target area. This time however their efforts were rewarded as that zone of the ship erupted in a huge explosion, generating several chain explosions on some of the surrounding areas and the ship began to go down.

"Base One, this is Scorpion Leader" He began his report. "The City Destroyer is falling. I repeat the City destroyer is falling. I believe the ground troops should get the hell out of there if they don't want to be crushed by it" He continued with a smile on his lips

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Samuel Massamba observed as the alien computers around the ship flared it's danger warnings and alarms went off around the bridge, while the scientists tried desperate to get the ship under control as it descended. It seemed his plans were completely destroyed now and his death was almost certain. Perhaps it was better this way, since ever since this holy weapon had taken off everything had begun to go south. How could he have faced God's Messengers without a victory against the impure humans to his name.

"We should evacuate!" The european scientist told him. "They have taken out one of our main auxiliary reactors, the rest are quickly overheating due to being not very stable in the first place and we aren't able to cool them down."

Without listening to his whining Massamba shot the man on the head with a blank expression on his face. "No one leaves" he said in an emotionless voice. "It is the will of God" He added. The rest of the people on the bridge looked at him with a terrified expressions. On their heads some of them began to elaborate plans to escape the ship and leave the madman they had adored like a representative of god. However their plans was ruined as the overheated Main Reactor exploded and the rest shortly followed engulfing the whole ship and it's "crew" in flames as Massamba smiled as he thought he saw the God he had claimed to be serving accepting him into his Celestial Realm.


	8. Chapter 7: After the Battle

Well here is the seventh chapter of the Independence Day: Counterattack story, I would like to thank the people who reviewed after last episode Guest, Ragnarok666 and Orionastro and then all of you who read my story. I hope you, the ones who haven't done so already, will review and give me your opinion and even ideas as well someday (when you follow or fav is also awesome for me) but until then thank you because knowing that you read gives me reason to keep writing and posting this story.

I want to reassure the reviewers that they will soon get the space action they are looking for, although Earth built ships will not be ready yet for a few chapters, there will be some space action before that though. The Character interactions some of you have requested will be happening soon I'm not sure if I will go that route yet though. Lastly I want to thank one of you for a rather enlightening history lesson and character studies about US generals, all you wrote made perfect sense, although Mitchell has another reason aside from that to be like he is now even after the events of '96.

Since I won't be updating until after Halloween, allow me to say; Happy Halloween! And enjoy your reading.

LD: I do not own Independence Day

Chapter 7: After the Battle

Bob Johnson sat on his chair at his office, which was decorated humbly in comparison to the Office he'd had in the NY's Headquarter, in the UN Headquarters on Geneva with a worried expression on his face. The events in africa that had happened over the last month and a half had been a rather difficult test for humanity, and even though the City Destroyer had been shot down just that morning and several people were celebrating the success of the operation, Bob couldn't really afford that luxury, because even if humanity's forces had been successful, the UN had without shown all it's deficiencies dealing with situations concerning humanity's defense.

While the ESD waited patiently for the UN to decide to take decisive action against the Insurgents in Africa, Johnson had had to deal with the different sides of this conflicts who were willing to negotiate as well as the different Leaders of UN member nations especially those within the council each of whom seemed to have different ideas on how to deal with the crisis. It was thanks to the small diplomatic victory won by the UN negotiators, that had triggered the insurgents to react and the ESD to act to destroy the ship, that the different leaders of the world were not still discussing how to best deal with the insurgency.

As a former member of the military, he knew that had to change, undecisive leaders were one of the main causes for lost battles and even wars. The UN needed to have more power, it needed to act as Earth's government, at least concerning the alien issue, if they wanted be on equal footing with their alien allies, and moreover if it wanted to survive more crisis like this one, which was survived thanks more to luck. Of course it wouldn't be easy, neither the democracies nor the dictatorships of the world would accept the UN gaining such a power even if it was for the better defense of mankind. Johnson would have to be very careful if he wanted to carry out such a reform, if he was caught it would be easy that he would be replaced and his action undone by a new Secretary General that would be little more than a puppet of the different governments.

He shook his head, he bide his time he would at first do the pending chores he had like choosing an ambassador to go to the Resistance's homeworld as a representative, he would increase the cooperation with the aliens already on Earth as well. Then he would move towards his new objective, Rome wasn't build in a day after all.

"Secretary General" He heard his personal secretary Claire speak over the interphone. "General Mitchell wishes to speak with you."

Bob sighed, he'd sent the man to the ESD in the hopes that he would be able to help Director Levinson, as well as keeping him under controlled and accelerate the plans the UN had for Earth's Defense, he also had wanted to put up a strong leader up front to negotiate with their allien allies. God hadn't that backfired. It had backfired bad. The General had entered the ESD like a dictator and had almost blown the alliance between Humanity and the Resistance, had gained the enemity of the whole organization and did not really keep control of it at all. The only thing that he had not blown was the speed of things since the African incident had put things on hold anyway.

"Put him through." Johnson replied as screen descended from the ceiling. It was a rather big screen certainly larger than the ones at ESDHQ. Johnson observed the man, who had a large bruise near his left eye as if someone had punched him on the face. "General" He greeted him professionally without asking him about it. "What can I do for you today?" He asked.

"Mr Secretary" Mitchell greeted him. "Good afternoon sir have you received the report I sent you earlier this morning?"

"I have" Johnson replied. "I have also read it."

"Have you read about Dr Levinson's insubordination?" The General asked barely concealing his anger. The Secretary General observed Mitchell and then he observed his bruise, it didn't take long to connect his strange note at the report over Levinson's apparent insubordination with it.

"I have" The Secretary General replied professionally although he wanted to chuckle. "However you didn't include that he hit you on the report."

"It doesn't matter to me that he hit me" Mitchell huffed. "The point is that Director Levinson undermines my authority at every chance he gets. I would like to know if you had considered what I recommended on my report."

"No." The Secretary General replied with a tone of finality. He knew full well what Mitchell was talking about. At the end of the report he had asked the Secretary General to strip Director Levinson of his post at the ESD and punish him harshly because of his "insubordination". "Nor will I consider to do so in the future, General, you may be the Officer in charge of the Military of the ESD but Director Levinson is the head of the organization, to accuse him of insubordination is ridiculous since you are not his superior."

"But Mr. Secretary..." Mitchell began to protest but Johnson raised his hand and interrupted him.

"In fact you have a lot of nerve to act like this. I sent you because I wanted to have the ESD under control, true, but you should have aided him as well not only become the enemy of Levinson and any other." Johnson added as he looked at the somewhat humilliated expression Mitchell had. He sighed, he should stop there he wanted to scold the man not have him against him too. If he was being truthful he was to blame for Mitchell's actions too. When he'd contacted him thanks to President Adams he'd seen a man with a good Service record who had played a part during the last part of the War of '96 and knew Doctor Levinson and Doctor Okun. He'd seemed ideal at the time. He'd ignored his personal life completely and he shouldn't have.

"When you hear through the telephone the death of your wife, your son and your daughter some psychological scars are bound to remain" Johnson thought to himself. "And for whatever reason he blames Levinson and the ESD for that and he seems to be getting his revenge against the people he blames for his misfortune. Things won't end well if he continues down this path."

Taking that into account and taking into consideration the reports of his behavior as well Johnson could very well have General Mitchell expelled from the ESD immediately but the fact was that he still needed someone to keep an eye on David, to make sure he centered his efforts in what was most important and he couldn't be sure that another General could be the same as Mitchell or the complete opposite instead of what he needed, who was someone in the middle. No Mitchell would stay in the ESD for now.

"Mr Secretary?" Mitchell asked worried that Johnson hadn't spoken in a while. Johnson still didn't reply as he was still thinking. He couldn't kick out Mitchell but he could have someone go to the ESD to keep him under control too, a second in command perhaps. An idea formed in his head and he looked at Mitchell, he had a man in mind.

"I believe the missions that I have given you are too much for you alone." Johnson spoke "I will be sending a man over there to help you in the tasks I have given you.

"You will see" the Secretary General replied before cutting the transmission. He then was quick to act as he used the interphone to call his secretary.

"Contact Gando Air Base." He told her. "Ask to speak with Colonel Quesada."

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Jake sat on the couch of Gando Air Base's stand by room, an activity room where Fighter Pilots on duty sat awaiting the order to sortie. It had been there where they had been installed before they had been called to Congo to take down the Insurgent City Destroyer due to the lack of warning Colonel Quesada had given there before flying there from Morón air base. He looked to his side where his fiancée slept soundly with her head resting on his shoulder. She had been having less nightmares lately even with everything that had been happening around them, or perhaps it was because of that, with her mind so occupied with the mission plus almost daily flights Colonel Quesada made them do she could have been to exhausted to have any nightmares or at least not as many as she usually had.

He looked around him, the room they were in was more of an activity room than a bedroom since the pilots had to be awake when they were there to go as soon as an alarm sounded. As such besides Patricia the rest of the members of Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons were wide awake. Rain and Charlie laid together on a nearby couch making out, much to the amusement of the rest of his wingmates that from time to tim urged them to get a room. Dylan, who seemed more relaxed than he had been in more than a month, was enjoying a game of billiard with Carlos and Troy, Fujiko sat in front of the tv lazily changing channels. And Isabel had found herself some books to read. Colonel Quesada wasn't there, he'd been called to the office of Gando Air Base's commanding officer since he had received a call for the colonel.

"Could you please stop making out a little?" Troy pleaded with Charlie and Rain pulling Jake out of his thoughts.

"What?" Charlie asked separating from his girlfriend. "We are just celebrating victory" He added with a smirk.

"There are some single people here" Troy replied in annoyance.

"Leave them alone Troy" Fujiko said without looking in their general direction. "It's not their fault that you can't seem to hold onto a girlfriend for more than a year."

"But they are distracting me!" Troy said with fake anger. It was clear that he just wanted to tease Rain and Charlie.

"So now it's their fault that you are bad at Billiard?" Carlos chimed in in support of Fujiko. Jake couldn't help but chuckle at this.

"Let him have this" Dylan interceded both helping and uniting in the teasing. "He is losing so bad after all."

"I'll show you losing badly" Troy grumbled as he returned to the game of Billiard and everyone laughed, even Isabel who had seemingly been immersed on her book, only Patricia seemed to remain the same. Jake sighed then thinking that now that the City Destroyer had been shot down they would most likely be called back to headquarters and Scorpion would return to their Base as well. Even if the time they had spent together had been short they had developed a strong friendship and a strong teamwork, it would definitely be sad when they finally left.

"Hey guys" He said and every one looked at him. "Do you want to ask permission to go out tonight?" He proposed. "I mean since it may be one of the last chances to do so and all."

"I'm in" Troy said after a moment of silence during which everyone realized what he was saying. The rest were quick to agree and Jake was sure Patricia would also agree, once she woke up that was.

"Let's go find the colonel then" Jake said but just as he said that Rodrigo entered the room. He seemed immersed in thought although not worried just thoughtful.

"Colonel" Jake said as everyone rose to salute and Patricia's head fell to the couch waking her up. Just as she was about to protest she noticed everyone standing and saluting she was quick to do the same, making Jake chuckle and making her glare as a response.

"At ease" Rodrigo said, he then noticed Jake had something to say. "What is it Lieutenant?"

"Sir we were discussing if it would be possible for us to have a free night. We wanted to go out to celebrate our victory." Jake said.

"I don't see why not Lieutenant." Rodrigo replied. "Although I wonder if you could postpone that for tomorrow" He added.

"Tomorrow sir?" Jake asked confused.

"Yes tomorrow, you seem tomorrow morning we have to fly early tomorrow to get out of here." Rodrigo said. "And I doubt that any of you fly well with a hangover."

"Fly? Back to Morón?" Patricia asked and Rodrigo shook his head.

"No. We are flying to the ESDHQ, area 51." Rodrigo replied.

"Us too sir?" Carlos asked in confusion and Rodrigo smiled at his second in command.

"Yes Major, we too are flying there. Scorpion Squadron will be based with Legendary Squadron in area 51 starting tomorrow." He said.

"Sir" Isabel said as the rest of the members of both squadrons smiled at each other because of the news. She had a worried expression.

"I've already notified your husband Captain. He is willing to go and bring your children. Taking into account the new school year has not started yet and that they are bilingual in english and spanish I doubt they will be any troubles with their education and I'm sure they will be able to make new friends." Isabel seemed doubtful, after all her family was always moving because of thethe military job her children had moved twice already and they seemed to like it on Seville. "This will be the last time Isabel" He reassured her and she finally nodded, deciding to believe her commanding officer"

"Also the secretary general told me that the members of Legendary Squadron will all be promoted one rank." He informed them. "Jake, Patricia, Charlie and Rain are awarded the rank of Captain, Dylan will be promoted to Major." The five members of Legendary Squadron looked between themselves and smiled pleased at their reward.

"What about the members of Scorpion Squadron?" Dylan said as he realized he had not spoken about the other pilots.

"There are rewards for them too. Major Gómez, you will be awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel." He said. "Isabel you will be awarded the rank of Major." He added. Both mentioned officer saluted their superiors. He looked at Fujiko and Troy. "I'm sorry but..."

"We know" said Troy with an easygoing smile. "Don't worry about it" He added talking about something that members of Legendary Squadron didn't know about.

"Why haven't Troy and Fujiko been promoted?" Patricia asked, she clearly voiced concern over the unfairness of the situation.

"Both Troy and Fujiko have had trouble with some of the high ranking officers at the ESD." Rodrigo replied. "It has been too little time to consider a promotion."

"The Colonel almost lost his job trying to get me into this Squadron" Fujiko explained. "And he surely made some enemies when he made me Captain. I really don't mind."

"In my case it's a little more complicated" Troy said. "Perhaps I will tell you the story sometime"

Isabel and Carlos seemed genuinely surprised about Troy's case as they all, both squadrons, had known about Fujiko's. After a moment of awkward silence Rodrigo spoke again.

"I have managed to wrestle a pay from the Secretary General. Your wages will be doubled for five years due to your actions in this mission" He said and Troy and Fujiko saluted.

"What about you sir?" Dylan asked. "What's your reward?"

"I've also been promoted." He said with a sigh. "To brigadier general." The members of both Squadrons applauded.

"Way to go sir!" Troy exclaimed as they continued clapping but noticed that Rodrigo wasn't all that excited about it.

"What's the matter?" Troy asked as he noticed this and the rest stopped clapping. "It's a good thing isn't it."

"Well that promotion is responsible for our unit being based at HQ but it's a complicated job." Rodrigo explained. "In fact I'm being asked to babysit."

"What?" Charlie asked voicing the rest of his friend's confused thoughts.

"You do know how aside from Mitchell there's no man on the military forces at HQ above the rank of Colonel. The Rest of the Generals are stationed around the world and there would be no point of naming an admiral since there is no sea." Rodrigo said. "They are promoting me so I can become his aide, and because I am a friend of David, a mediator between the General, which is a huge baby, and the Director. I know they did this because they knoe of the friendship between David and I and we can't have them fighting during every operation but still." Suddenly the members of both Squadrons realized, while it was a promotion, it also meant he had to do one of the hardest jobs in the whole ESD. They didn't envy him at all. "That's not all though. My promotion also means I won't be flying anymore."

"General" Carlos protested. "Can't you refuse? Flying is your life and our squadron will not be the same without you leading us."

Rodrigo sighed. "I don't like either. But I've already accepted, if David needs my help in dealing with Mitchell, I will help him. I will miss flying with you" He said. "With all of you" he added looking at Legendary squadron. "But I believe that all of you together will be able to reach greater heights even without me. Plus I will leave you one last gift."

"What is it?" Fujiko asked a little less saddened than the rest by this news. It was sad that the Colonel wouldn't be able to fly anymore with them, but he was being promoted and it wasn't like they wouldn't see him anymore.

"When we arrive at HQ I'll be handpicking my substitute in the squadron. We can't have you being one man short after all." Rodrigo said with a smile.

"General I will be asking another time" Jake said. "Can we go out tonight? You too of course We have much to celebrate and much to rant about also."

"I'll see what I can do Captain" Rodrigo said chuckling. He couldn't really argue he had a good point.

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Rosenberg observed the two chinese people who sat in front of him and Colonel Dumas. Both of them, a man on his middle aged man and a young woman had been found on one of the escape pods that had come out of the ship by one of the UN patrols. They should really be thankful that it had been them and not Major Youlou's men, since the Congolese Forces had taken the most casualties during the battle and were out forblood as they also searched the zone where the escape pods that had managed to escape the City Destroyer. Umbutu on the other hand was having his men behave as disciplined as the UN forces. The bulky former warlord stood behind Rosenberg and the Colonel as they interrogated both scientists.

"So your name is Henry Wong." Colonel Dumas said. "And yours is Li Na Lee am I right?" Rosenberg recognized the names, they had been some of the scientists that had been brought in by the Massamba's sect to work on the ship

"That's correct." Dr. Wong replied. "It's Dr. Wong and Dr. Lee if you don't mind."

"Sorry doctors." Dumas replied unsincerely. He too knew who these people were, and what they had done so he didn't really like him very much. In his opinion they should be grateful that his own men hadn't shot them on the spot. "Would you mind explaining to me what were the two of you doing on the rebel ship?"

"We were working with the Insurgents" Henry recognized, and as he spoke Rosenberg noted there was a hint of sincere regret on his voice. Dumas also seemed to pick it up.

"And what did you do when you worked with them?" He continued with the interrogation.

"We worked on the repairs of the City Destroyer under the orders of Samuel Massamba." Li Na spoke. She seemed much more scared than Dr. Wong, and perhaps even more regretful.

"Why did you leave the ship during the battle?" Rosenberg asked and the Colonel nodded as he was also going to ask that.

"Something happened that broke the image we had of Samuel Massamba." Henry Wong. "Don't get me wrong, I know that to the rest of the world he has always been a monster but to us he was our leader and heavenly prophet."

"How is it that a man of science decided to follow a religious maniac?" Dumas asked.

"Massamba gave me something when I lost everything. When you lose someone to the alien attacks, the world is suddenly a much darker place" Henry replied and Li Na nodded in agreement. "He gave me hope and the will to keep living. Li Na's case is slightly different but she also lost to the aliens and found hope in Massamba's words and promises."

Rosenberg looked at Umbutu, his friend's face didn't reveal what he thought about this scientist's words or about these scientists themselves. Umbutu had lost much during the Swarm attacks as well as the period in between the two major attacks when fighting with the remnants of the Swarm. Dumas's voice pulled Rosenberg out of his thoughts.

"You do understand that what you've done is considered terrorism right?" Dumas asked and Henry nodded.

"We know however we wish to avoid going to prison." Henry replied shocking the three men in front of him. He began to pull something out of his clothes and Umbutu's hand rushed to his weapon. Wong ignored his actions and pulled a pendrive. "I know the ESD had been working on extracting information from the ship." He said. "I know how much they took and I took the liberty of obtaining more" he added with a smile.

Before Dumas could reply Rosenberg spoke knowing that Dr. Okun would be grateful if he could at least bring him a little more information. "What do you want?"

"I want to collaborate with the ESD in the destruction of the monster who destroyed my family" Dr. Wong replied. "And of course for me and Dr. Lee not to go to prison."

"Depending on what you've brought" Rosenberg replied and Dumas looked at him. "You'll have your deal"

The colonel was about to protest but stopped himself. According to what he had heard would the data inside the ship was of importance to the ESD, he looked at the escaped scientist, he wasn't a warrior, he hadn't killed anyone directly and didn't seem particularly dangerous even if he was responsible to some degree, Dumas didn't know to which degree, of the insurgent actions while when he looked at his partner he saw an scared young woman, perhaps very intelligent but with no intention of causing anyone harm. Perhaps he could live with negotiating with them.

"Fair enough." Henry said handing him the pendrive. "But I do have another with different information, to be more precise my partner does. Nothing personal, just seeing that you won't go back on your word, also I'd rather talk to a lawyer at the ESD Headquarters when you see that the data in there is genuine. Once I'm sure mine and my younger colleague's demand is met I'll give you the second pendrive. Plus I will tell you everything I know about the hideouts of the organization."

"With Massamba gone it is a little pointless" Umbutu said with his expression still neutral. However Rosenberg could see for an instant that his friend was controlling himself. He was seeing these people as members of the group that had killed countless men and women during their attack on the RNU and he was only controlling himself because of his newly status as a member of the ESD who knew these people could be useful in their fight against the Swarm and because deep down he wasn't like Massamba or his even his father, he didn't kill unarmed people who had just surrendered. Wong looked at Umbutu and shook his head.

"Massamba wasn't working alone. After the war of 2016, different groups who supported the alien invasion, mostly extremely religious group, began working together. We were just one of those groups." Wong explained. "I know because I heard Massamba speak with someone from other group, I know this because I'm certain that all his followers were on that ship and because I asked him about it and he told me that he was talking with members of "Sister Congregations"."

"Well It would be too much to get rid of all the crazies at once" Dumas said and both Umbutu and Rosenberg found themselves agreeing with him.

"Well" said Rosenberg. "Now we have to think of a way to get these people out of Congo without the congolese government knowing who they are."

Neither Umbutu nor Dumas argued, even if Youlou didn't kill these people if he found who they were if the government of Congo actually learnt they could regain some political leverage to negotiate another agreement with the UN after the destruction of the ship they wouldn't let them go.

"There are still many refugees trying to get out of the country, and after the defeat of Massamba and also the "defeat" of Umbutu this area is going to become violent as the government will try to finish the rest of the rebel groups around this area so there will be many more." Dumas suggested. "If we get them on one of those planes we will be able to get them out to another country and then to the US"

"Good" Levinson said. "Colonel, Umbutu and I would like to go with them. Would you mind making sure Umbutu's men make it out ok?" He added and his friend nodded in agreement.

"I promise" Dumas said. "When are you planning to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning would be an ideal time." Umbutu said and this time it was Rosenberg's time to nod in agreement. Umbutu then looked at the former rebel scientists. "Be prepared.


	9. Chapter 8: The Ambassador's arrival

Here is the ninth chapter of Independence Day Counterattack, I hope you enjoy it, as always I would like to thank the people who reviewed, followed or fav as well as all of you who read when I update. Just one quick note before responding to the Reviews, next week I'm not quite sure I will be able to upload on wednesday since I have things to do, if you don't see the next chapter up by next wednesday, do not worry because it will be uploaded on Saturday or Sunday.

Guest about Troy's brother and sister I'm not sure if they will appear in this story, I'm still thinking about it although they will at least be mentioned. About the Sister's boyfriend my doubts are the same, so we will be kept in suspense, myself included, about that for now.

Orionastro, you will get some of what you are hoping for in a few chapters, some space action at last, please be patient

Ragnarok666, your description of Mitchell's personality is accurate but I can tell you this, if there is trouble within the resistance, it will not be only the human generals' fault but they will have some alien help as well.

And that's that, I hope you'll read me next week

LD: I do not own Independence Day.

Chapter 8: The Ambassador's arrival.

It had been only two weeks since the destruction of the City Destroyer and David had to admit that things were significantly better. Not only because the threat of imminent danger was gone but also because since Rodrigo's arrival his exchanges with General Mitchell had been few and far between. Ever since the arrival of his new aide, the General had been relegating on him for most communications with David and Rodrigo had more than once mediated between both men. Unfortunately Catherine hadn't had that luck, as Mitchell had centered on making her work on the research even if it cost him his life, something that would certainly happen if he continued to pressure David's girlfriend.

"He has two Military Police members shadowing me anywhere I go!" Catherine shouted as she paced around their living room.

"Well you can't really avoid the research forever" David tried to argue as he sipped his coffee, he certainly didn't want to begin the morning with a discussion, especially because of his busy day today. The UN ambassador to the Confederation of Intergalactic Species or, as it was commonly known on Earth, the Resistance, was coming to ESD HQ's that day to be picked up by a Resistance's Ship which would take him to the Resistance's planet.

The choice of said ambassador had been made surprisingly quickly and somewhat easily with the Assembly general and the Security Council agreeing on something. Deputy Secretary General Albert Baasch, a German politician and diplomat with many years of experience under his belt, who was said to be Secretary General Johnson's most trusted aide, was chosen unanimously just five days after the fall of the City Destroyer andwho had been communicating, thanks to technicians sent to Geneve by Zarhok, with the rest of the Council on the Resistance's planet but they had been insistant from the very beginning that the Human representative in their council had to be present on their Planet as well so that was the reason for their trip.

Also aside from the ship that would transport the ambassador, several space ships full with materials, technicians and Resistance members would be coming to Earth as well, Zarhok had already sent several of his men to key points to help update and upgrade humanity's weapons and military technology in general and he'd prioritized sending men to the bases on the moon to make sure both planned bases, one of which was having problems with construction, were both completed on schedule, also help with the construction of Space ships and the new Space Fighters but it was clear they needed more help.

The ships were scheduled to enter their solar system within the next two weeks, a period of time the ambassador would spend with General Zarhok and Princess Miradine to learn how to act on the council, since it was rather different to communicate with the Council from the other side of a screen or a hologram from being there in person, and how not to create an intergalactic incident.

"Did you hear me?" Catherine asked a little angrily as she realized David was immersed on his own thoughts.

"Yes, yes he's pressuring you too much honey" David said.

"As I thought you haven't been listening!" Catherine accused him. "I'm telling you that he is obsessed with the possibility of using the unexplained psychic connection between human and aliens as a weapon. He is also recommended that I work with Okun and Umbutu since they seem to have the strongest "Psychic connection" with the swarm, however they are both busy doing the things they have to do like deciphering and translating the information brought from Congo and pursuing terrorists, They've been scrapping an hour or two weekly to come to see me. He also wants me to investigate if Dr Lee and Dr Wong could have a similar connection with the aliens due to their stay on the City Destroyer which it ethically dubious since they are technically prisoners and implies double the work without giving more time nor access to the location where the aliens we captured last year and those we already had were moved. I really don't think he knows how this works and I know that even after the whole years I spent researching said connection for better purposes I am only know beginning to understand it a little"

"I think he's just as impatient as he's been over everything ever since he came here, and as he is the type of man who likes things done ethics don't concern him much." David said "I know that you don't like the task the UN gave you to begin with and his unreasonable demands now are making you even more nervous" He smiled "Just know that I have your back." He added and Catherine smiled surrounding him with her arms and gave him a small peck. Then another, and then a deep kiss. Their hot morning make out session was interrupted by a knock on the door. Both groaned, separated and David finished his coffee as Catherine headed for the door. From what David made out it was the Military Policemen that Mitchell had following her.

"Honey I'm off to work" She said before stepping out and leaving with the MPs following her. David looked at his watch, he still had ten minutes to enjoy this and another coffee there was no rush, he would enjoy the last minutes of peace he would have that day.

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Brigadier General Quesada observed as the formations of H-8s flew over his head, both Scorpion Squadron and Legendary Squadron were practicing their aerial combat. Rodrigo sighed, they had been practicing together since they had arrived in HQ two weeks ago, and Rodrigo had made a habit of always rising up early to see them do so, sometimes from the control room and other times, like now, from the ground. As he saw Dylan breaking away hard from Troy who had been until then hot on his tail he felt a pang of nostalgia and sighed again, it was always good to see them getting better and improving their pilot skills together but everytime he saw their exercises in person he wanted to join them in the air. However he was a brigadier general, the second highest military officer at HQ and General Mitchell's aide, he had too much work to get back on the air much less for his own pleasure.

He pushed those thoughts aside, he'd known since the moment he had accepted the promotion that his days of flying Fighters were most surely over. He'd learn to live with it over time, or so he hoped, since he feared he would eventually become bitter and god knew that with Mitchell, the base had enough bitter military generals.

"Brigadier General Quesada" Mitchell's voice sounded from behind him. Rodrigo suppressed the urge to flinch as he heard's his superior's voice, he knew that Mitchell couldn't read his thoughts but he felt like a child caught doing something naughty. Putting on his best professional's expression and voice he turned around and saluted his superior as well as the two officers, a Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel, who accompanied Mitchell

"General Mitchell" He replied.

"Have you confirmed if the ambassador has left Geneve yet?" Mitchell asked not bothering to ask the operators at the control room that. Rodrigo nodded, he had asked the operators at the Control Room to report to him when the plane carrying Deputy Secretary General, now ambassador he guessed, Baasch took off from Geneve's airport. They had contacted an hour ago.

"Yes sir" Replied Rodrigo. "He is on route. He is expected to arrive within the next 2 hours." He reported. It was amazing how transport technology was constantly evolving and how normal flights between America and Europe or between any point of the world and another laster much less time now than they did before the war. Mitchell nodded and looked up to observe the Fighter Jets and their war game. Many of them had now dropped off the game after being "shot down" and only Jake, Dylan vs Carlos and Troy remained.

"Have you found a replacement for the spot you left open in your squadron?" Mitchell asked

"Not yet sir, I'm still looking" Rodrigo replied and Mitchell nodded.

"You better do it soon." He said. "Perhaps then you will stop wasting time watching this exercises from the ground and do your duties." He added. Rodrigo resisted the urge to retort to that remark, even if he had managed to prevent any major confrontations between David and Mitchell that also meant that he was on the receiving end of Mitchell's attacks when he was in foul mood. Which seemed to be almost the whole time he was awake.

"Understood sir." He replied and watched Mitchell walk away. After a few more seconds of watching the aerial combat who was won by Dylan in when Carlos couldn't shake him off his tail and the leader of Legendary Squadron got a lock on him. As both Fighter jets headed for the hangar Rodrigo decided to head for his office, he had many service records that needed reading still. As he headed for the entrance of the Base he found David entering the base, he also saw him and waited for Rodrigo to reach him.

"Good morning David" Rodrigo greeted him putting on a smile on his face.

"Rodrigo" David greeted back. "How did the squadrons perform this morning?"

"They are getting better." Rodrigo replied as they walked together through halls of the base. "If I'm lucky I'll find a new member for Scorpion Squadron soon though. If they continue to fly like that it will be difficult for any new member to catch up to their level."

"When is the ambassador arriving?" David asked.

"In about two hours" Rodrigo replied. "I've just reported it to General Mitchell." Hearing that David made a face, it had truly only been because of Rodrigo that he had avoided another fight with the General was because Rodrigo had always been between them since he arrived, they'd never spent even five minutes on the same room alone without him, he knew it was rather immature of him but he had liked that arrangement very much. But he had agreed to talk to the General to see the details of the ambassador's arrival and the reception Mitchell had prepared for him, being higher up in the UN the General had remarked that the Deputy Secretary General had to be received with full honors

"And I guess you will have to return to reading service records." David said and Rodrigo just nodded. David sighed, he knew Rodrigo normally spent the first half of the morning going trying to find his substitute, which was why he normally avoided the general during that period of time. But now it seemed it was inevitable that they talked without anybody to mediate.

"It won't be so bad" Rodrigo said as if reading his mind. As he said that they reached the point at the base when they should go their different ways. "It will only be two hours" he added heading for his own office.

David sighed, he guessed Rodrigo was right, he could definitely be on the same room with Mitchell without him for only two hours. Or so he sincerely hoped.

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Catherine sat in front of Okun and Umbutu in her office and took notes as they explained to her how their telepathic link with the aliens worked. So far, much to her relief, she hadn't been to find a way to use this telepathic abilities as a weapon like the UN had wanted. She was learning however many things about the coma Okun had been since the alien attack of '96 had been a way for the Harvester Queen to extract all his secrets. She learnt that in Umbutu's case the humans could do much more than learn the alien's written language, that the connection could be formed naturally with the aliens due to several years of cohabitation even if those years had been spent fighting against them and that due to this Umbutu's naturally formed telepathic connection was more of a constant sixth sense, that he was always feeling the psychic communications between the aliens even if most of the time it was nothing more than unintelligible noise, at least to him who wasn't the destinatary of those messages.

"Bracken has told us that they extracted information from him all the way from wherever the Harvester Queen's ship was while he was on earth." She told Umbutu. "Do you think you could do the same yourselves, access that unintelligible noise on your head to get information or even block them from speaking?"

"I'm afraid they are too far Doctor" Umbutu said.

"Perhaps if we went to the new prison where the ESD is holding the alien prisoners from the last war we could make some progress" Catherine argued, although she wasn't keen on asking Mitchell again about that, especially for a project she didn't believe in.

"I doubt it doctor, most of the noises I hear are from beyond our system I doubt they communicate with the Prisoners." Umbutu said tiredly and Catherine nodded as she wrote down that detail

The now Major of the ESD had been working nonstop since he arrived to America to deal with organizations that similar to Massamba and his followers held the aliens as their gods and were willing to harm humanity on their name and making much progress together with Rosenberg, who had now been given the rank of Second Lieutenant and he'd named his second in command, thanks to the information Wong and Lee had provided. Under General Mitchell's orders he'd agreed to go to the sessions with Catherine but it was clear he didn't like this. "I did the exercises you recommended but I'm afraid I did not succeed."

Catherine nodded. "Well I'll see you both next week then. Tell me if there are any changes" She replied with a small smile. Both men rose up from their seats.

"Always a pleasure Doctor." Umbutu said and she smiled.

"I'll see you tonight for dinner my dear" Okun said said also saying his goodbyes.

"I think we'll see each other sooner Bracken since all three of us will be forced to be welcoming the ambassador when he gets off the plane.

"Yeah, Mitchell might just force us." He said before both of them stepped out. Catherine sighed, another interview done with results that wouldn't please Mitchell even if her conscience was a little more relaxed.

It wasn't that she didn't the defeat of the aliens it's just that she was worried for future possible applications. She rubbed her eyes and stepped out. The MPs were posted at both sides of her office doors and another two were near Dr Wong and Dr. Lee, they didn't have the liverty to move freely since they were former insurgents, although Catherine would have been worse for them if they hadn't been so useful upon their surrender and if their lawyer hadn't done his best to prevent them from being thrown into a cell God only knows where.

"I will see you both now" she said with an smile and both doctors entered. Just as their two escorts were about to do the same she blocked them. She worked better if it was alone with the patients even if her current work wasn't normal psychiatric work.

"I'll call you both if I need your help." She said and she closed her door before neither of them could reply.

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When Okun returned to his lab he observed the screen of the laptop he had at the table on the section of the lab he considered his study. Even though he loved Catherine very much and pittied her for having to do a work she didn't fully agree on he was always irritated with her after he returned from their "sessions", if one could call the digging of information and study of their psychic connection that. He was irritated because he knew his job much more important than Mitchell and the UN's ambition for a psychic weapons against the aliens. Thanks to his colleagues that had risked their lives of Africa, as well as Umbutu, Rosenberg and Dr Wong and Lee the ESD had obtained about 1.1% of the information the City Destroyer's computer had, the problem was that most of it couldn't be desencrypted or translated in Africa, only 0,36% could be desencripted and Wong had only desencrypted a little to prove the veracity of his data. Collecting data and doing so required special attention to make sure no information was lost.

The information the screen told him that about 0,55% of the information had been desencrypted an translated, at that rate he guessed all the information would be done in five weeks. He felt a presence around him and he turned around seeing the Prophet come to greet him. His friend from another world had been alternating staying on the alien ship with staying with Okun something Okun was grateful for.

"Dr Okun, how did the session with Catherine go?" The Prophet asked and Okun swore there was sincere interest on it's metallic voice.

"The same as always. I don't think humanity will have a psychic weapon against the Swarm anytime soon. I see things here have been running smoothly" He said.

"It's probably for the best" The Prophet said and Okun nodded, neither of them trusted Mitchell with such a weapon for mere fact that he seemed like a brainless bloodthirsty idiot. "Do you know when the ambassador will be arriving?" The Prophet asked and Okun shook his head.

"I don't, but don't worry they will most likely warn us when he arrives" Okun said. "You've seen him in a couple Council meetings. How is the man who will represent humanity in front of our allies?" Okun asked.

"He seems fine, it's intelligent and he seems to be able to keep Krangton, the leader of the Orwegians, in check. It's a good representative for the human race." The Prophet said, and to Okun it seemed it was pleased that someone kept the orwegian leader in check from what it had told him Krangton and the Prophet didn't see eye to eye on most things. Okun's attention returned to the laptop screen as he sat down in silence observing the slow process of translation and desencryption of the data.

"With the ambassador on the Council and the data from the ship. I believe humanity will prove that your trust was well placed in the first place. We will become a full member of the of the Resistance and we will prove we are worth of such a position." Dr Okun said as he remembered what the Prophet had told him about Council member Krangton and his doubts about humanity, which was what had prompted the test. The Prophet.

"Yes humanity will become a true member of the resistance, a member with a vote and voice in the council who who also brings something to the alliance, not to mention the defeat of the Harvester Queen at your hands" The Prophet agreed with Okun. "However your responsibilities will multiply the moment the ambassador touches our planet. These past weeks some members regarded him as a guest on the Council and that will no longer be the case. Contacts will increase between our planet and ours and the danger of attack will as well, but I believe if everything goes well, you will be able to lead us to victory."

"I know that I don't hold a rank and I'm hardly in a position to speak for humanity but I want to thank you for all your support you have given us so far and all the trust you have deposited in us." Okun said.

"Humanity will without a doubt become the most important member of the Resistance who will lead us to victory." Okun couldn't help but notice that the Prophet, despite having shown in the past that it was a being with feelings and not only a robot, despite being logical and analytic most of the time, was speaking for the first time from it's heart. "This is the first illogical thought I've had in a long time, perhaps before my mechanization." It added. "And I just know it will become true. Some of my statements have been considered prophecies before, but if any one of them has the right to be considered as one is this one."

Before Okun could reply the Prophet moved away from him, likeit had said, that thought was it most illogical and the first one in a long time. He supposed the mechanized alien needed time for itself and let it go returning to his work.

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The ambassador's plane landed at Area 51 on schedule without any troubles. A red carpet was laid out prepering to receive them as soon as the plane stopped and he got off. David looked at the plane, it was a Boeing 747NXTGN, with those letters that stood for Next Generation added to any plane that included alien technology. It was proof that not only themilitary but also civillian companies had benefitted from the adaptation of the alien technology to their devices.

The plane stopped near the group that gone out to receive the ambassador, General Mitchell stood with Rodrigo and David at both sides, and Zarhok and Princess Miradine on their side. On the second row, Okun the prophet and three military officers and on the rest of the rows a mix of aliens and ESD personnel amongst whom were Catherine, Umbutu, Rosenberg and the members of Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons. The moment the ambassador stepped out of the plane and began descending the stairs towards the ground, David began analyzing the man. He had a normal complexion and was advanced in age, his eyes were a bright green and his white hair still had traces of blond on some hairs. His expression was kind and a smile was on his face as he approached the first row followed closely by his aides and his bodyguards.

"Director Levinson it's nice to meet you" He greeted David first and then he looked at Mitchell. "General Mitchell. It's nice to meet you too" He added as he shook hands with both men. If Mitchell was bothered when ambassador greeted David first, he didn't let it show.

"Welcome ambassador Baasch" Mitchell replied. "It's very nice to have you here."

"The pleasure is all mine." He then looked at Zarhok and Miradine. "General, your Royal Highness, it's an honor to finally meet you in person."

"Thank you ambassador." Miradine said smiling at the ambassador who seemed like a very sincere man even without using her powers.

"Thank you" Zarhok said without adding anything, it seemed his mind was on another place as he spoke. The ambassador didn't seem to mind as he greeted Rodrigo next, it seemed that they had previously met as they spoke a little more and the ambassador asked him about his family. If David remembered correctly Rodrigo had two sisters, an ex-wife and two children back home but all of them were spanish, and aside from his ex-wife, who also worked at the ESD, none of them worked in a place where the ambassador could have met them.

After he had greeted everyone on the first row his eyes settled on the Prophet and the ambassador smiled.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the famous Prophet in person" he said as he approached the metallic sphere. Until that moment he'd only seen the Prophet through a screen on the Council meetings. "Our race owes you a great debt of gratitude."

"Your race owes me nothing ambassador" The Prophet replied and tha ambassador laughed politely.

"I beg to differ, some of people may no know it but you defense of humanity during the few Council meetings I've seen makes you deserving of all our gratitude. The technology you have provided us with after the Second war against the Swarm are helping us repair the damage done to us by the Harvester Queen and her ship makes you deserving of our complete and utter devotion." The Ambassador spoke and Mitchell cleared his throat to stop him from saying more. The ambassador looked at him not bothered by his rudeness. To the general's further frustration he saluted every member of the crowd that was there to receive him praising Umbutu, Rosenberg, Okun and the members of Scorpion and Legendary squadron, before finally paying Mitchell the attention he'd been asking for.

"Would you like to see the base. We have prepared a tour for you." Mitchell said and the ambassador smiled at him.

"I'm afraid that will have to wait. I promised the Secretary General I would contact them as soon as I arrived here." He replied politely. "I also do have a Council meeting after that. However I would to take you up on that offer afterwards.

"It would be my pleasure ambassador." Mitchell replied as he put on a fake smile to hide his frustration, David could only guess he wanted to lick the ambassador's ass well as he was on a delicate situation with the Secretary General and he needed allies in the UN.

After the reception of the ambassador the diplomat followed General Mitchell towards the Control room with the Prophet, Zarhok and Miradine following closely. Okun waved his back and headed back to his life and the rest of the people dispersed to continue doing their jobs.

"He seems like a nice man" David concluded after only him and Rodrigo remained and the spanish General nodded.

"He is." He replied with a smile of his own. "He is also a hell of a diplomat, humanity's interests will be well defended." He added.

"He seemed to know you well" David commented and Rodrigo nodded.

"It's been a few years but I would dare call him a friend." Rodrigo explained. "He is also the oldest Brother in Law of my sister" He added with a smile.

"So you are almosf family huh?" David asked. "I guess Mitchell will be asking you to put a good word in for him then."

"It was a little sad to see all his efforts have been for naught then. Albert is not that kind of person" Rodrigo said.

"Good to know" David said. "I also don't think so." He added

"And even though you may not like this neither is the Secretary General." Rodrigo said, he had found much respect for the Secretary General after talking to him when he talked to him to offer him this post and since Rodrigo always trusted his instincts he was adamant on making David forget the grudge he held against him for sending Mitchell.

"I guess so" David conceded not wanting to initiate a discussion. While it was true that he could understand why the Secretary General had sent someone and could simpathize with the frustrations of the politician he wasn't ready to forgive him completely just yet. Besides even if he was still a little angry he always treated Johnson with the outmost respect so Rodrigo should just let him forgive the Secretary General at his own pace. "Let's go before Mitchell misses us too much." He added sarcastically while changing the topic.

Rodrigo chuckled and followed his friend. David had been able to stand in the same room together with Mitchell without him to mediate for two hours but there was certainly no love gained between the two of them.

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	10. Chapter 9: The Lost Space Battleship

Here is the Ninth Chapter of this story of Independence Day Counterattack. I'm sorry that it wasn't posted earlier but it was a little difficult for me to do so this week since I had work to do and the election results in the US have distracted me a little too. In any case here it is now. One thing, I've begun reading the Independence Day novelizations, so in the future I will draw inspiration from it. That being said since I started this story without reading them and the next few chapters were written without reading them as well, I hope that those of you that have read them don't mind if this story goes a little into the AU territory.

As always thanks to all of you who support this story, just by reading or reviewing or following or marking it as one of your favorites or all of the above.

LD: I do not own independence day

Chapter 9: The Lost Space Battleship

Albert observed as Krangton's holographic form moved from one side to another of what he assumed was the council room back at the Resistance's homeworld. The Holographic eyes of many of his peers also followed the Orwegian leader. He was talking about some convoys being attacked by unknown assailants, from what he could make out it seemed those convoys were kind of the lifeline to the Confederation since it brought foods and resources that were not available in their home planet or those that were scarce. It seemed these attacks had been the reason the Orwegian Council Member cancelled the Council Meeting that was supposed to take place the day Albert arrived at HQ and called for another one 10 days later, four days prior to the arrival of the ship that would take them to the Resistance's planet

"I must say that this is most troubling my dear Council Member" Krangton spoke, his tone not betraying any real emotions, like a true politician. "Our Planet finds itself on a dire situation, first because our newest member race, the humans, whose technology is inferior to us and we have the responsibility to help them. Second because it seems that these convoys have been attacked more frequently right now and our resources are dwindling. Third because our routes which had remained a secret since the beginning of our alliance and we installed ourselves on this planet have been exposed. As such I believe we should take it easy witht the incorporation of the Humans to our council should be delayed until we can be sure they will be safe"

Albert smiled imperceptively, he had known Council Member Krangton didn't wish the humanity to have a voice and a vote on the Council. He guessed he wanted them to be just a minor ally of the Confederation. He had downplayed humanity's achievements against the Swarm and claimed that the costs of having them as a full member of the Confederation would be too costly. Of course his reasons for doing so were others, he clearly felt threatened by the arrival of humanity and Albert couldn't really say he blamed him. From what he knew before the arrival of humanity Orwegians had been the vanguard of the Resistance, the species with the most achievements, but with the defeat of the Harvester Queen humanity, a feat never done before, Humanity threatened that position. Of course Albert wasn't really the only one that saw the game Krangton was playing.

"Your came to live here quite recently" said one of the other Council Members spoke. It was an that very thin and had greyish skin and not a single hair on the visible parts of his body and big black eyes. It was the first image that had popped up on any children's mind when they thought of aliens before the war of '96, the Council Member belonged to what had been commonly known as "Greys" on Earth. Their sightings on their planet have been few and sometimes far between and their appearance a Halloween costume for many many years. "My race was one of the first races to be attacked by the Swarm and one of the first to inhabit this Planet, I can assure you it has not been the first time our routes have been attacked by Space Pirates."

"In fact when your race joined us we had similar troubles with our resources and you also required our help when you needed to get your technology up to the same level as ours even if it's true yours was more advanced than theirs, none of the council members then suggested delaying your entrance into the Council or the Confederation" A female voice spoke. Albert observed as Queen Aradine, Princess Miradine's mother approached Krangton. Her appearance very similar to that of her daughter and the only differences the Human Ambassador could appreciate between the two was the difference of age, Aradine was a beautiful woman completely formed with the appearance or a forty year old although the ambassador had been told the Queen was actually older than that. "In fact if I recall correctly it was you the one who insisted that the Human Council Member should stay in our planet, why are you trying to delay that now when we have even sent a transport to get him.

"I'm just concerned for the recent problemsin our confederation your majesty, and I'm also very concerned by the security of the Ambassador." Krangton spoke without being too defensive. It was clear that the Orwegian Council Member knew his politics well, but then again so did Albert.

"I hope the honorable Council Members won't be too hard on Council Member Krangton for voicing his concerns" Albert spoke and Orwegian looked at him as he narrowed his reptillian eyes at the Human. "However Council Member Krangton forgets that I've survived worse threats than Space Pirates and that the mission the UN has given me as the human ambassador to the Council or Human Council Member if you will is more important than my own life. Also I believe that the sooner we can integrate ourselves into the alliance, the sooner we will launch our counterattack against the Swarm."

"We have been fighting a war against the Swarm far longer than you Ambassador." Krangton reasoned barely hiding his irritation.

"I know and it's not my intention to underestimate your races achievements, even if you've been fighting skirmishes you've managed to keep the Swarm from harming the Confederation" Albert said. "You and your race have been the champions of the Resistance, in fact all your races have been champions of the Resistance in their own right. However with the information my Race has obtained and the defeat of one of the Harvester Queens I believe the moment to strike grows near, since the enemy's morale will be low due to their first defeat. Also due to the number of ships coming to Earth which is considerable, the sooner they do their job the better since I'm sure this alliance has better objectives for such a fleet."

Krangton pondered his response and seemed to smile. "You speak wisely ambassador and your bravery is beyond any doubt, I apologize If I offended you" he said feigning respect and bowed his head. Albert was reminded of what Zarhok had told him about Krangton, he was a very proud individual and very easily offended, he had recommended him to let him have a small victory even when he defeated him on the debates.

"Not at all" Albert said also bowing his head. "I just wanted to ease your mind Council Member Krangton about this very real cooncerns. I'm also eager to initiate the Couterattack as soon as we can because I'm sure that if every one of us joins forces we will be successful" He added trying not to sound condescending.

Krangton observed him for a few moments before the Prophet, who Albert had observed remained mostly silent through the Council meetings, unless it was to mediate on disagreements or to keep Council Member Krangton in check spoke.

"Do you have any more concerns?" It asked and Krangton finally shook his head.

"I commend you for your bravery Ambassador" Krangton replied. "I hope to see you soon." He added. "I think we can conclude the Council Meeting here." He looked around at his peers to see if someone disagreed with him on that. When he saw that no one did he nodded at someone and the image of the Council room disappeared from the sight of Albert and the Prophet as they both remained on the Communication's room of the Resistance's frigate.

"It seems Krangton is still trying to retain his power on the Council" The Prophet said more to itself than to Albert.

"You can't really blame him." Albert said. "If what you've said is true, aside from Queen Aradine, he is the most power Council Member and the de facto leader of the council. Although I've seen much resistance to his proposal today."

"There are many who have followed him to this day because of his race's contribution to the security of theResistance's home planet." The Prophet said. "And he has come to see many fellow Council Members as subjects to his people instead of allies."

"Do you think he will eventually come to terms with this new situation. I don't think humanity would resist having another alien enemy right now." Albert said as they stepped out of the comm room entering a bridge manned by fewer aliens than usual, most of the aliens that remained at ESDHQ were outside the ship, some of them at a BBQ at Director Levinson's house which would be their next destination.

"He will accept it. The main reason he trying to delay your entrance it's because he wants to undermine what he considers my authority and he is afraid that he will lose all that he has gained if you enter. However once the our Counterattack against the Swarm begins he will cooperate with you gladly."

"And after that?" Albert asked. The Prophet didn't reply for even it didn't know as she hadn't thought much about what would happen when the Swarm was defeated and it couldn't really say something reassuring to the Human ambassador aside that time would tell.

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David stood in front of the Barbecue at his house's garden as he prepared to cook a second round of hamburguers and hotdogs. He had to say that he had pictured himself doing that week a BBQ wasn't among his plans but Zarhok and Miradine had been very curious about the concept when the members of Legendary Squadron had told the Princess about the very american tradition of doing a barbecue on the weekends and somehow inviting the aliens to David's house for said Barbecue with Catherine's permission. Looking around he smiled, aliens and human alike were eating dinner at his home and talking like old friends, he supposed a great thing had come from the plan he had at first protested. He had even invited Mitchell but he had said he had work to do perhaps knowing and Catherine didn't really want him to go, he had been polite, like he had been making an effort to be since the arrival of Albert Baasch

"How is the second round coming along?" Rodrigo asked as he approached his friend after talking with Zarhok for a while. It was rather a sight to see General Zarhok with a beer on his hand or the aliens eating the human food and drinking their drinks although thankfully all of them had reacted well to the beverages and the food something he had worried about since he wasn't really sure if the aliens would really be able to eat their food or that it wouldn't be toxic to them.

"It's coming" David replied. "It's coming"

"Did you know that the Princess is actually the Captain of the ship that brought her and Zarhok here?" Rodrigo asked him. David shook his head and looked at the Princess who was happily talking to the members of Legendary and Scorpion squadrons plus Isabel's family, the children.

"I didn't" David admitted, he had not talked much with the princess aside from the meetings and the debriefing, he knew that she'd been hanging with the members of Scorpion and Legendary squadrons which was how this BBQ had come to pass.

"It's amazing" he said with a smile. "My kids are about her age too."

"You had a son and a daughter if I remember correctly." David said, it had been too long since he'd seen Rorigo's family, in fact the last time had been in 2000 if he recalled correctly. That was why he'd thought of his son and daughter and children when he'd thought of them upon the ambassador's arrival. Contact had been sporadic after that and mostly professional after he had been named Director of the ESD.

"Marcos and María" Rodrigo reminded him and just then two of Isabel's children, two boys with a healthy tanned skin and black hair, who between seven and ten years, ran past the BBQ almost made him trip as they played tag. "I bet you still remember them when they were about that age" Rodrigo said with a chuckle as he regained his balance and the children were scolded by their father who was seated a near his wife but didn't participate on the Squadron's conversation. He seemed like a nice man although unlike his two sons, two daughters and his wife he had no tan, he was rather pale, he also was skinny and kind of a bookworm much like David had been when he was younger, however his personality seemed nice and even as he scolded his children you could see how much he cared for his family.

"Yes It's been a while since I last saw them." David said referring to . "What are they up to?"

"María is working as a nurse in one hospital in Madrid." Rodrigo replied with a proud smile. "Marcos insisted in following his mom and I into the ESD job, he is a Fighter Pilot based in Germany" His voice was still proud but there was a hint of disappointment on his voice. David could not relate as he didn't have children but he could understand, no parent who'd seen what their generation had or fought the battles they had wanted his children to live the same things they did.

"Did he fight during the attacks of 2016?" David asked and Rodrigo nodded.

"He was condecorated too." He replied. "He is now a Captain. It was a rather fast promotion, he'd just been ascended from 2nd Lieutenant to Lieutenant when the bastards came back."

Laughter came from the zone where the pilots invited to the party were, it seemed like Troy was telling the Princess a joke and everyone was laughing their asses off even before he finished the joke and even the Princess had a small smile playing on her lips.

"For more than two months aliens and humans have been living and working together but keeping their distance. Who knew the princess's desire to socialize with our species and a BBQ was all that was needed for me to see clearly that this alliance can work." David said as he pulled out some more meat from the grill.

"You didn't see it working before?" Rodrigo asked.

"No. I always knew it would, but until now it was just a feeling in my gut you know. But even throughout these months I've always feared we would make a mistake or offend them as humanity always does when we find new civilizations, if we aren't directly hostile like Mitchell was towards them the first day, that the men wouldn't overcome that deep mistrust humanity gained of the beings from outer space after the two Swarm attacks." David said

"Well I suppose the ice between us and the rest of the species in the Resistance was bound to break eventually." Rodrigo said with a smile. "By the way where is Dr Okun? I haven't seen them." David sighed.

"He passed up on the barbecue, Catherine was rather pissed at him for that." David said. "But it seems he has found something interesting in the data that was found on the ship and had to debate it with Tyrion and some human and alien scientists back at the lab so I think he can be forgiven" He added handing a hotdog to one of guests.

They heard the sound of a cars engine, and looked at the street. A military jeep drove up the street and stopped in front of David and Catherine's house and Albert Baasch stepped out of the car which was driven back to the base by MP that had driven him there.

"Albert, I'm glad you could make it" David said with a smile. During the short period of time he had known the UN Deputy Secretary General David had without a doubt established a small friendship with the politician since Albert had demonstrated that he wasn't only a competent politician and an intelligent man but a rather good person.

"Thanks for inviting me." Albert replied and Rodrigo looked around.

"Dr Okun called it to the lab it seems he wanted to inform it of something he had found." Albert replied. "So I've been stood up by my date."

"That always sucks" Rodrigo said chuckling and handing Albert a beer at the same time David offered him food.

"I wonder what the hell has happened" David wondered as he began to prepare the hamburger that Albert asked for. He had the feeling that this recreational time would come to an end soon.

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Okun observed the data the computers was showing him and his colleagues, some of the data that they had extracted from the Swarm's ship before it had been shot down seemed to be a map of their solar system. At first it hadn't been weird to Okun, it was clear that the ship would have studied their solar system before launching their attack on Earth, but as he had studied the map he had noticed there was an area of the Rings of Saturn that was marked on the map, aside from the area where the Rhea base had been which was now a grey area after the destruction of the Saturnian moon by the warm hole created by the Swarm, which had suddenly closed or had collapsed, the time when it had done so was unknown since they had only found out a few months after the attack after the war of 2016, based on the grade of destruction it hadn't been open very long. Whether this was due to the fact that it had been created by the Swarm or not the Scientists did not know.

No this was something else that had nothing to do with that attack on humanity, it was like the aliens had been aware of there being something else, something or someone of interest to them. After realizing this he had passed up on David and Catherine's invitation to a BBQ and had called several fellow scientists both Human and alien, even asking permission to let Doctors Wong and Lee observe the data and give their opinion on what it was and if possible even clarify it.

The conclussion of what that was had been unanimous, on that position what the aliens had been looking for was most certainly a ship and one with a camuflage system it seemed as it did, whether it was of their own or not it was up for debate although Tyrion was sure it wasn't a Resistance ship since the Resistance did not have any presence on the system prior to the arrival of the Prophet to Earth. With that concluded the scientists had gotten to work and tried to analyze the rest of the data to see if they could find anymore clues, until finally Okun decided to contact the Prophet.

The Prophet arrived in the lab an hour later, after it was finished with the Council meeting had been told it it was needed at the lab and Okun and the scientists were still mining through the deciphered data they had so far.

"Doctors" It greeted all the scientists. "Why do you require my assistance?" It asked. Okun turned and smiled at the Sphere really glad it had finally arrived.

"Welcome, we are sorry to call you here, but we have found something most interesting and want to know your opinion about it." He said as he showed it the map. "It seems the aliens from the ship in Africa, had marked a certain area of the Rings of Saturn as a point of interest, another one besides humanity's former base on the now destroyed Rhea. We most likely agree that it's a ship but we are not quite sure of it's procedence. Dr Tyrion has said it's most likely not a Resistance ship but I'm not quite sure it was one of the Swarm City Destroyers or other ships. Do you have any idea of what it could be?"

"It seems to be a highly technological ship with a camuflage system." The Prophet said and Okun knew it was scanning the map on it's own trying to see what the aliens were looking for. "It can't be" it added a few minutes later after accessing it's memories data bank.

"What?" Okun asked curiously.

"I think, what they were looking for is one of my people's battleships" The Prophet replied. "There was a battle on this system several centuries ago, one of the first battles between my people and the Swarm where my people emmerged victorious. However my people's flagship was heavily damaged and it couldn't leave this solar system, the fleet left it here and returned to our home planet to get help but when another fleet returned to provide assistance there was no trace of the ship. It was assumed that the Swarm had returned and destroyed it.

"And what makes you say that it is the same ship?" Tyrion asked as he approached Okun and the Prophet looked at him.

"The battleship that was lost was a heavy space warship "Sujkronodisska" class with an almost perfect camouflage system." The Prophet argued. "And there was no trace of another battle when the second fleet arrived."

"Ok why didn't the crew of the battle come out of hiding when the second fleet your people sent arrived?" Okun said.

"Our Battleships were connected to the bodies of their captains after we left our flesh and bone bodies" The Prophet explained. "If our mechanical bodies ceased to function the ship would become deactivated and and only essential systems would remain active. Camouflage was considered essential if a ship was on a System that was considered hostile."

"And wouldn't your race know this?" Asked Doctor Wong. "Why didn't they begin a search?"

The Prophet observed the Hong Kong Doctor. "We were facing a major threat, a war that consumed many of our resources from the very start, a search was conducted but the fleet was surely called elsewhere."

"What do we do?" Tyrion asked Okun who observed the map again. An alien warship from the Prophet's race would be an incredible asset for humanity and the resistance, only god knew what secrets it held, plus he was sure it could be an useful weapon in the very hard war that awaited them all.

"Contact Director Levinson" Okun told one of his fellow human scientists. "He will want to know this."

"What about General Mitchell?" His colleague asked and Okun made a face. He wasn't overly fond of Mitchell but he knew that he would be really angry if he learnt that they discussed the existance of a nearby alien ship and how to proceed, and didn't even contact him. He nodded at the other scientist to let him know that he could contact Mitchell as well and just hoped that the General would be patient enough to wait for David before he began explaining what they had discovered. The other scientist picked up the phone and began dialing the numbers.

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When David arrived at Okun's lab accompanied by both Rodrigo, Zarhok and Albert he could see Mitchell pressing Okun trying to reveal the important information he had told he had might have discovered while analyzing a part of the data extracted from the ship. The general stopped himself immediately after he saw them entering, perhaps because Albert was there or perhaps because he would soon have the information he wanted. Saluting Rodrigo, who returned the salute, and nodding at David, who returned the nod back, and after a brief almost dismissive salute to Zarhok, the Human general still had not forgiven the Resistance aliens for whatever he thought they had done wrong but he knew better than to ignore Zarhok in front of Albert whom he greeted with a smile on his face.

"Ambassador, I trust you've had a great time at Dr. Levinson's barbecue." He said smiling as he offered him his hand which Albert shook.

"I have General. I have to say Dr. Levinson is a great cook." Albert said politely. "I heard you could not join us because of work."

"Yes sir, I did have to do some paperwork." Mitchell confirmed, he then looked at David looking almost sincere. "I'm sorry I'd had to miss your barbecue, it sounds really nice." He said and David smiled politely.

"Maybe next time" He replied and they turned their attention to Okun. The Doctor stood together with the Prophet and Tyrion the alien scientist as well as Dr Wong and Dr Lee, surprisingly without their escort, something David was sure Mitchell had commented on this upon his arrival, however they both had been proving useful since their arrival made no suspicious movements and continued to help even now, he would have to talk with Mitchell of their treatment when the right time came, when he was completely sure that they wouldn't betray them, to see if he would consider having them as paid personnel, if they wanted. He looked at what they wanted to show them, had introduced a map on an holographic machine, it seemed to be the Planet Saturn and with an area that had been highlighted for some reason.

"I'm sure you are all wondering why I called you here." Okun said and everyone silently nodded. "The reason is simple we believe we have found, probably, an old warship from the Prophet's race."

The group of people remained silent as the took in what they had just heard. If David recalled correctly the Prophet's race was an alien race that was old and advanced and who had fought a long war with the Swarm. The Swarm feared them and for good reason, the only known survivor was organizing a rebellion that could potentially destroy them and they hadn't found where most of the races that formed it were yet.

"Why do you say you have probably found it?" Rodrigo spoke before the rest could. "Aren't you sure?"

"Well, the Prophet claims after it's captain died the ship deactivated and is only keeping a handful of systems online." Tyrion explained, "It's stealth and camouflage systems being part of them. So we can't really confirm it's position or even it's existance."

"Which would explain why our Base in Rhea didn't detect it while it was still active" David said as he looked at the hologram of the area where the second largest moon of Saturn had been before it had been destroyed by the Swarm's Harvester Mothership

"Or perhaps our men in Rhea didn't detect it because it doesn't exist" Mitchell said "You have called us here based on the possibility that there is an ancient Alien warship there."

"You don't understand if there is even a slight chance of that being true, we should investigate it further." Okun defended himself and looked at David for help.

"Certainly if there is an ancient warship around that area it would help our objectives greatly. It would be interesting to organize a search for it." David said. "Since we humans are building our own Space Fleet, an alien warship would certainly be useful, not only could we study it and apply some of it's technology to our own ships and if we can repair it, it could be a new Resistance weapon for our fight against the Swarm."

"Is there a way to bring it here?" Rodrigo asked voicing the next question Mitchell was going to make. "How do you know the Gravity from the Swarm's Mothership didn't destroy it as well?"

"Well..." The Prophet began before it was interrupted by Okun

"From the little data we have it's hard to tell for sure" Okun answered his second question. "But the area where the remains of Rhea and the base are, are marked as well and it's far enough from the area we suspect the ship is to think it's very possible it survived." He then realized that he had interrupted the Prophet. "Sorry."

"If I can reach the ship" The Prophet said ignoring the apology and answering Rodrigo's first question. "It's possible that I will be able to bring it here."

"We would need the Resistance's ship to do so." Rodrigo said as he looked at Zarhok. "Humanity's fleet prior to the war of 2016 was composed merely of shuttles, who served to transport personnel to our bases outside Earth, however the very few remaining shuttles we have are essential for our bases on the Moon and Mars, we can't spare none of them for this mission."

"We will be glad to assist on the retrieval of the ship" Zarhok said.

"It is an old ship right?" Albert asked and all set of eyes were on the veteran politician. "Will it work even if we manage to retrieve it?"

Okun looked at Wong who nodded. "If the ship is anythinglike the Swarm's City Destroyer even the passage of a large period of time won't have affected it much. However we do know that if the ship is there, it will badly damaged after a battle, we can't be sure until we are there."

"Like Director Levinson said the potential uses for the ship, we believe outweight the risks and the possibility of failure to retrieve it." Dr Lee added and Albert nodded in understanding

"Well since it seems we are doing this" Mitchell began. "I believe it would be wise it would be wise to have some humans in the expedition as well." He said as he looked at everyone. "Perhaps the members of Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons could provide security as the aliens retrieve the ship."

"The engines of our Fighters are far less powerful than those of the frigate" Okun protested. "That would just delay the mission."

"And our Frigate is not like other Ships of our fleet, were not designed to carry smaller ships" Zarhok added.

"But our fighters can attach themselves magnetically to any metallic object" General Mitchell argued. "If I recall correctly it was one of the upgrades you made on them. Since your ship is large enough they could always attach themselves to the hull of your ship."

"It is too dangerous, that new feature has not been tested yet. If for whatever reason one of the Fighter gets disattached from the frigate as it's flying at high speeds the pilot won't survive, it could even be a risk to the rest of the Squadrons and the Frigates." Okun replied.

"Sir I don't know if it would be wise, we don't know if our Fighters would even be necessary in this mission." Rodrigo tried to argue concerned about the safety of his men.

"That System is incorporated into our fighters so that they remain in place in case of an attack on one of our carriers when it's forced to take evasive action" Zarhok added to the arguments against Mitchell's plan. "Is not meant to be used that way."

"It will be a good chance to test the system in a extreme situation" Mitchell said not going back on his idea.

"Will you not protest about the mission if we agree to your idea?" David asked knowing the futility of continuing with that discussion. Mitchell nodded and David sighed in defeat. "We better start making preparations." David then said surprising the rest of the people in the room. 


	11. Chapter 10: Search Operation

Hello guys, here it is finally the tenth chapter of Independence Day Counterattack. Some of you may have noticed that I've changed the story from weekly to biweekly. This has been done since I have some schedule issues between my fanfic writer life and my real life, I'm really sorry, however I don't think I will have any troubles now. As always I thank the people who have been reading following favoriting and reviewing this story.

To guest: I'm glad you are liking the story so far, as you can see I just needed some time to incorporate some of your ideas to this story. I'm glad you liked it.

To Ragnarok666: Thanks for your review and support, I'm currently reading your story although I haven't reached the final chapter yet, please continue with your support. (AN: To those who like Starcraft and haven't read Ragnarok666's story I suggest you take a look it's really good.)

To Orionastro: You will have your space battle's next chapter! Do keep reading!

To Jarjaxle: Things are moving indeed. Good rhythm by the way!

LD: I don't own Independence day or it's expanded universe.

Chapter 10: Search Operation

As David and Rodrigo walked towards the control room after the debriefing with the members of the Fighter Squadrons that would participate in the mission to retrieve the ship it was clear to the Director that his friend was angry at him. He couldn't really blame him. Mitchell's plan of having the Fighters attached to the frigate during a voyage between Earth and Saturn was dangerous. As they were reaching the Control room David stopped and looked at Rodrigo.

"Speak your mind" David said. "I'd rather you shout and me and ask me why the hell did I agree to Mitchell's plan than you glaring at me and looking all throughout the mission.

"Why the hell have you agreed to such a risky plan!?" He asked Mitchell, trying and failing to keep a low voice.

"It was clear that he wasn't going to back down and I didn't want to keep wasting time on a losing battle." David said. "Albert didn't seem to disagree with him either, and he is probably the only one Mitchell would have listened to anyway."

"That's not it and you know it" Rodrigo said calming down, seeing some logic on David's excuse. "If you had told Mitchell you didn't agree with his plan either he wouldn't have gone against you in front of the Ambassador. And I know you wouldn't agree on such a plan just to please Mitchell."

David sighed and nodded. In the end Rodrigo knew him too well. "Ok, I've agreed to Mitchell's plan because I think there is a possibility we will need to use the Fighters." David said and before Rodrigo could reply he added. "Everything in this mission is based on our speculations Rodri." He said using the diminutive of his name he had used with him in his youth, back when Rodrigo was an exchange student at MIT from the Politechnical University of Madrid, from which he had obtained a degree after flight school, and David was an student at MIT. "And we know that even if the Ship still exists, the aliens also know of it's existance. We can't say a hundred percent sure that there won't be troubles once the frigate reaches Saturn. However if it needs the help of the Fighters we won't be able to send help in time"

"I see" Rodrigo said visibly more calm. It was a rather good reason for David's actions even if it put his men in danger. However another idea came to his mind and some of the anger returned. "Then why didn't we wait for the Resistance's fleet to arrive here, I'm sure they are bringing their own Fighters and carriers. We could ask them to carry both squadrons with them and organize a mission then.

"Zarhok has agreed not to report whatever happens to the Council of the Confederation, I'm not sure the commander of the arriving fleet would be as understanding as he has been so far with us. The existance of this ship is a good thing but it can also bring conflict within our alliance." David said. "It probably still will be a source of discussion after we retrieve it but that situation will be more easy for Albert to deal with"

"Did you think of all that while we were discussing about the ship?" Rodrigo asked and David nodded prompting the spaniard to laugh. "I really can't compete with that head of yours" he conceded. "Although make sure to let the rest of the people there know about your true intentions. I think Okun was as pissed as I was that you would side with Mitchell"

"Figures" David said with a chuckle. "In any case let's get to the Control Room" He added and Rodrigo followed him. When they entered the control room Mitchell and Albert, who'd insisted on being at the control room during the operation, both greeted them with a nod and on the screen several Fighters were already on the frigate. Seeing this David prayed that he wasn't making a mistake. General Zarhok entered the Control room a few minutes later, it had been decided that the Princess would be in charge of the operation, and all aliens aside from the normal crew of the Frigate and the Prophet would remain on Earth.

"Night Huntress this is the ESD's control room do you copy?" Said one of the operators, thanks to the alien advances the ESD was now able to talk with all Resistance's ship within a certain range of their base, the whole Solar system in fact, also it this comm systems had been equipped with translators on their own which like the aliens personal translators worked both ways.

"ESDHQ this is Captain Miradine of the "Night Huntress" we copy, over" she replied.

"Night Huntress how are the "docking" procedures coming along?" The operator asked.

"The docking procedures are complete." Miradine said with a voice that said that she had reservations about this plan like almost everyone else "The system's check is also doneNight Huntress is ready for take off."

The operator looked at General Mitchell who just nodded and the operator spoke again. "Roger that Night Huntress you are cleared for take off. I repeat you are cleared for take off"

The Princess didn't reply and the radio was silent. Not even a humorous comment from Charlie or Troy could be heard, only tense silence as the ship took off. Not that David found that weird, they had been called out on their day off for an improvised mission based on just the probability of retrieving an ancient warship from the Rings of Saturn and to add salt to the wound there was a high risk of death, mostly by accident. As he thought of that, David couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous himself, perhaps Rodrigo had been right before the mission was too risky, and perhaps he should have tried to stop Mitchell even if he truly believed in the explanations he had given Rodrigo not to disagree.

He shook his head and pushed those thoughts aside as through the screens he observed the ship rising up and becoming smaller and smaller, those thoughts were futile now. He could only wait and hope the mission would be successful.

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The Alien Prison had been a secondary location built after the war of '96, it had been built in the case of a Second alien attack, more accurately in case the second alien attack brought in more alien prisoners. And even though the war of '16 hadn't really brought many more alien prisoners, in fact the current number of prisoners was about 60% of the number of prisoners they had prior to the war, the alien prison was selected as the permanent containment location of the aliens since they would compromise the security of HQ again in case of another attack. Like Area 51 it was also located on the desert of Nevada, about a hundred miles away from the HQ. The main difference however was that unlike HQ and most of the other military bases it barely had any structures, only a seemingly old military airfield, visible on the surface, the main structure and prison were underground and were accessed through an elevator after passing several security checks.

About 2000 active soldiers lived there guarding the aliens 24/7 365 days a year. Many were veterans of both wars against the aliens or just one, others former special forces soldiers from around the world, after the incident with the prisoners during the war of 2016 the neither the ESD, the US or the UN wanted to take any chances with the prisoners who'd returned to a letargic state after the aliens latest retreat. Most of the guards hoped they would remain like that forever, however all good things had to come to an end.

First it was one, one of the aliens began to scream and move around frantically, something that was promptly picked up by the motion detectors on his cell. The officer in charge of the control room that days, an african american man with short black hair and the complexion of a former basketball player, on his late thirties paled as he witnessed this. There was only one reason why the aliens would suddenly become active again and that was if they felt the presence of their comrades. Quickly he went to the phone and dialed his superior officer. The man picked up the phone annoyed that he'd been bothered on his day off.

"Williams speaking" the man at the other side of the line said.

"Colonel we have a problem." The officer reported to his superior as more and more prisoners came out of their letargic state. "The Prisoners are awake and making too much noise." The man at the other side of the line cursed loudly knowing what that meant as well.

"Contact HQ and let them know what's happening" he ordered trying not to sound panicked. "Have all our men on full alert in case some of those things try to escape and activate the base's outer defenses ASAP!"

"Yes sir!" The officer replied professionally as he hang the phone and proceeded to dial HQ ordering one of the operators to sound the alarm.

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Okun observed the screen that showed the cells at the alien prison, the scene before him seemed identical to the one that had happened in HQ just before the war of 2016, however to Okun something was off, just like he had known that the aliens had been cheering because of the arrival of the Harvester Queen and their comrades, right now they seemed to be angry, like he had been with David before entering the Control Room and finding everyone staring worriedly at the screens, he sensed they were angry about something but why he didn't know.

"What's happening with those beasts" Mitchell asked, his voice filled with hate for the imprisoned members of the Swarm.

"I can't be sure, but they seem angry about something." Rodrigo guessed.

"No, last time they did that they were cheering for something." David looked at Okun as he said this, he had heard him enter but hadn't said anything as he had been looking at the worrisome scene before him.

"General Quesada is right, David." Okun said. "They are definitely angry about something, however what about I can't don't know. Perhaps Umbutu would be able to tell us."

"You don't think the mission is in danger do you?" Rodrigo asked Okun.

"Don't be stupid, they can't possibly know about..." Mitchell began to chastise his aide before he took a look at Okun as if he had just thought of something. "Can they?"

"I'm not quite sure of the individual capabilities of the members of the Swarm. Since the UN has become increasingly careful on how to handle the prisoners they barely allow me to study them." Okun said, he then realized something. "Umbutu has a stronger connection with them than I do perhaps he will be able to make out what they are saying."

"Wouldn't it be prudent to postpone the mission until we know what's happening?" Albert said. General Mitchell looked at the veteran politician.

"Whatever is happening it can have nothing to do with the mission ambassador, plus our men could always retreat if things get too tough for them to handle." Mitchell said. It was clear that the General was eager to report the retrieval of the ancient alien battleship to the Secretary General since such an achievement would bring him out of trouble and back on Johnson's good graces. "Besides our speed may be key for the success of the operation." That everyone could agree on. Mitchell then looked at one of the operators. "Contact Major Umbutu and have him come here."

The operator obeyed and Umbutu entered the Control room followed by Rosenberg a few minutes later which were spent in silence as everyone seemed to just want to see if there were any changes in the situation. When he observed the scene before him he froze and seemed to concentrate trying to make out what the creatures were saying.

"Do you know what they are doing?" Mitchell asked after Umbutu observed the situation for a few minutes.

"They seem to be angry, really angry." Umbutu said and Mitchell sighed in frustration.

"We can see that Major" He said in an impatient tone. "What I want to know is why are they like that."

"They seem to have felt a presence, a presence they feel an extreme hostility towards." Umbutu said ignoring Mitchell's tone.

"The Battleship?" Okun asked.

"Not only that" Umbutu said. "There is something more, something they absolutely hate."

"Have they contacted anyone?" David asked and Umbutu shook his head energically.

"It doesn't seem like it." Umbutu replied. "However it could be something else they have picked up through their telepathic link with the rest of it's species, whether that's of interest for this mission or not I do not know."

"See ambassador" Mitchell said trying to sound reassuring but instead sounding smug about the information the former warlord had provided even though it didn't back it's earlier claim of it not having anything to do with the mission completely "It's perfectly fine to continue with the mission."

Albert nodded but said nothing as his eyes went back to the scene playing in front of him. However Zarhok spoke in his place.

"In any case I believe it would be wise to inform the princess of this." He said. "Just to be safe."

Mitchell looked at his alien counterpart for a few seconds and finally nodded, he didn't really want advise from Zarhok but he nodded and relayed his orders to the communication's officer.

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As the frigate reached it's destination Miradine let out a sigh she did not know she had been holding. The Planet of Saturn and it's rings which number of small satellites and asteroids had diminished after the war of 2016 was a very welcome sight. Every Fighter seemed to have survived the trip and no accidents big or small had occurred during the travel and her idea to have the frigate's ships cover the Fighters also seemed to have worked well as a protection. Now it was time to get to work, she motioned to one of the bridge operators to patch her through to Lieutenant Colonel Gómez and his men.

"Scorpion 1 this is Night Huntress" Miradine said. "How are your Fighters' systems holding up. There was a minute of silence before Carlos replied.

"Night Huntress this is Scorpion 1. The systems' check found no problems in our systems and the Fighters seem to be able to take off." Carlos replied.

"Then please do" Miradine replied and she looked at the operator in charge of the shields and the one in charge of the shields. "Lower our shields" She ordered and then she looked at the comm operator again. "Contact the Engine room and tell to reduce our speed to half our current speed." Both operators, both members of Miradine's race nodded and began working on their assigned tasks. A few minutes later very carefully and one by one the Fighters began separating from the frigate.

"Attention Fighters" Miradine said as she checked that all Fighters were spaceborne. "A few hours ago we received the news that the aliens that were imprisoned back on earth have come out of their letargic state. Apparently that is what they did during their previous attack on Earth. We don't know why have they come out of their letargic state, please be very careful when you begin the search."

"Oh I'm touched that you are worried about us" Sounded Troy's voice through the radio. Miradine groaned, didn't that man take anything seriously. Granted it was because of that easygoing personality that he had almost always which had allowed her to develop some friendly relationship with the members of both Fighter squadrons but they were in the middle of a mission.

"Troy concentrate" Isabel chastised her flymate.

"Dylan Isabel you will be with me" Carlos began as he had ignored Troy's joking comments. "The rest will be divided into groups of two as we begin the search.

Miradine looked at the Prophet which was beside her at the bridge of the ship. It had been silent for the most part immersed on it's own thoughts like and seemingly unaware of it's surroundings. She pondered for a moment if she should inform it of their situation as the fighters headed for the area the Swarm thought the ancient space battleship was.

"It's not here." The Prophet said cryptically. "I'm not feeling anything from the Asteroid rings."

"Well you said that the camouflage and cloaking systems were still active it's no wonder that you can't sense it." Miradine said sensing the Prophet's nervousness, then again aside from it's ship which had been attacked by the humans more than a year ago it hadn't had contact with it's race, neither beings nor technology, and she guessed it was normal.

"You don't understand I've performed an initial scan of the area already and I've not found a single trace of energy. I know what to look for when scanning for these kind of ships, I searched many systems after the war in search of survivors, I adjusted my scans and radar to look for very specific traces of energy or any object that could one of my people's ships and here there are none."

"Perhaps if we look for this traces with the Frigate and Fighters' radars we will be able to find it." Miradine argued as the Prophet sounded a little unreasonable.

"I updated my scanning abilities a long time ago, they are more refined than any ship the Resistance has ever built and even more refined than those of my own ship, I only used my ship's radars when I needed more detection power, but for the Sujkronodisska my systems should be enough." The Prophet said.

"But the aliens picked up something on their radars around that area didn't they?" Miradine asked more confused and a little unable to accept that their trip had been in vain. "If there is nothing here. Why would they think there was?"

"Perhaps they thought they had picked up something or perhaps..." The Prophet began as from the corner of it's visor it saw one of Saturn's moons, the largest one, Titan, it was currently far away from the zone where the ancient battleship was thought to be before but it was a good hiding place granted space bodies with atmosphere were more difficult to scan making it impossible to detect if the camouflage and cloaking abilities of the ship were taken into consideration and it wouldn't be the first thing the enemy would scan. Without finishing what it was saying it headed for the ship's radar operator, the alien observed the prophet for a moment and moved away as the Prophet connected itself to the radar system and scanned again. "Found it."

Miradine looked more confused than before, didn't it just say that she had found no trace of the Battleship's presence on the area why was it now saying that it had found it precisely as it had connected to the Frigate's radar which it said were vastly inferior to it's own.

"Where?" Miradine asked finally pushing it's own doubts away for the moment.

"The Ship is on Titan." The Prophet said confidently.

"But how did it move there?" Miradine argued skeptically. "Were the propulsion systems a part of the systems active if the ship's captain died."

"No" The Prophet said and Miradine could swear it was happy as it spoke at the prospect of another being of it's species being alive

"Lieutenant Colonel, tell your men to head for Titan." Miradine said contacting Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons.

"That's outside the search area." Carlos reminded her.

"I think the Prophet has found some traces of the ship on it." Miradine explained.

"Roger that" Carlos said and relayed the orders to the rest of the Fighter pilots and soon enough they all headed toward's Saturn's largest moon

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When the Fighters and the frigate entered the atmosphere of titans all of them were very careful to have their ship's shields up, they didn't think something bad would happen but they'd rather be cautious about both the enviroment of the moon or surprise enemies. Even after Russia had "colonized" Rhea, the largest moon of Saturn had been mostly left unexplored, aside for a few unmanned missions, by the Russians or the ESD, there had been plans of terraforming and colonizing Titan, the viability of those options was being studied, but Rhea Base had only been active for 3 years before it had been destroyed alongside the moon it was in and nothing else had come from it.

Miradine observed the Prophet as it searched for the ship. It was still connected to the ship radar as it helped it pick something up. They were approaching the North Pole of Titan when the Prophet spoke.

"I'm detecting what could be the ship" the Prophet said, we are fifty miles away." It informed her, and she once again wondered what traces were those the Prophet had looked for to detect the ship, which was if it's story was accurate camouflaged and was invisible to the radar. Miradine contacted Carlos again.

"The Prophet says the thing we are looking for is fifty miles away." She informed him.

"That's good at least we won't have to search the whole moon for it" Charlie's voice sounded. "I would rather return home without having to fight."

"We haven't found any enemies yet." Rain chastised her boyfriend.

"But the aliens know of this place." Charlie replied "And I'd rather not stretch my luck more than I need to."

There were several chuckles from the members of Scorpion and Legendary Squadron and even Miradine found herself smiling a little at this. She had to say that if Charlie was a member of any other race that it wasn't the human race, he wouldn't have been allowed to fight, which would have been their loss since from what she had mostly heard he, alongside the rest of the members of both squadrons, was a hell of a pilot. When the fun was over Carlos voice sounded.

"Do you want us to scout ahead?" The Lieutenant Colonel asked.

"That would be a good idea." She agreed. "Charlie you can stay near the Ship if you are scared" she joked, ever since she had started socializing a bit more with humans it seemed she had picked a little bit of their humor, something she was sure her family and race could find unbecoming of someone of her status.

"Thanks Princess" Charlie said. "But I think I'll join them they wouldn't know what to do without me?"

"Please remain with the ship" Troy and Jake said at the same time prompting more laughter on the radio as they flew towards their target.

"I will get ready too" the Prophet said as she disconnected itself from the ship's radar and began to exit the ship's bridge as Miradine nodded.

"I'll have a security team ready to go with you" The Princess said. "Please be careful."

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Even though it's camouflage system was working neither the Prophet nor the Fighters could say that it would have remained hidden much longer. The fact that it was on Titan and that it was still invisible to the radar were the only facts that had kept it safe because to the naked eye it was clear there was a ship landed on the satellite's surface and by the looks of it, the ship was much larger than the Frigate, definitely an imponent sight. The Frigate landed near the Battleship`while Fighters flew over them keeping watch not only on the massive structure but also for any still unseen threats. The Prophet exited the frigate followed by several black armored soldiers with their masks on to help them breath in the unknown atmosphere. Their mission was to protect the Prophet while also perform a search for lifeforms, both friendly and hostile, in case it was necessary.

The Prophet moved towards were she knew one of the entrance of the huge Battleship was. Upon reaching it she sent a signal towards a computer located nearby, or so the soldiers guessed since they couldn't see what was what with the camouflaged systems of the ship on, which seemed to scan the Prophet and recognized it as a friendly being. It was then the camouflage system deactivated completely, revealing the ancient Battleship in all it's splendor, revealing it's original metallic grey color, shortly afterwards a ramp descended and one of the entrances opened letting them in.

It was dark when they first and an eerie feeling came over all of them, however as soon as they entered the ship began to iluminate and the group found themselves on a group several metallic corpses, seemingly robots bulky and heavily armored laid on the ground inactive. The members of the team looked at the Prophet but it merely said.

"Security bots, and assault bots, unlike my people, these were created artificial." It explained and several members of the team nodded. However what the Prophet didn't tell the group was that if the ship's "captain" was active those things would be active too. It was like a bucket of frozen water fell over the Prophet and it severely decreased the expectations it had had of finding anyone alive. Now that it was inside the ship, it performed a scan, everything was silent, it didn't feel anyone from it's race onboard, however it had detected organic life on one of the ship's cryogenic suspension room. "We shall split up" It said. "Sargeant Krotoss" it motioned to one of it's escorts, an bulky Orwegian warrior. "You and five men will come with me to the bridge. The rest will head to this location." As it said that it projected a small scale map of the battleship. The place where the Prophet wanted the rest of the team to go was about five km away from their current position while the bridge was just about 2 km away on the other direction.. Krotoss designated another member of the group, a natrolean, to lead the other group and his subordinate seemed to memorize the map and the location where the Prophet wanted them to go. After this both groups split up from each other.

"Why have you split up the group?" Miradine's voice sounded through it's comm system.

"I have detected organic life" The Prophet said. "On one of the cryogenic suspension rooms." Miradine didn't ask how she knew that as she had always trusted the Prophet and they already had had a discussion that day.

"Why does the ship have a cryogenic suspension room. Your people had metallic bodies." She asked instead.

"It served as a prison." The Prophet replied.

"Then the lifeform you have detected was a prisoner?" Miradine asked.

"Probably" The Prophet said as it and the team of five soldiers continued advancing. There was a radio silence for the next fifteen minutes which was the time it took the Prophet to reach the bridge. Even iluminated the ship's age and abandonement was clear and they found several more bots laying on the ground and damaged parts of the ship, however the bridge's seemed just old, there was no apparent damage, just some inactive operator bots, which was good. However the first thing the Prophet noticed wasn't that, it was the Spheric corpse of the ship's captain. It clearly was deactivated, dead, the Prophet didn't need to scan throughlyit to make sure. It had rolled away from the place where it was supposed to be and not even the faintest trace of energy could be felt from it. The group that had accompanied the Prophet remained silent and some bowed in respect towards the fallen being.

"I'll need some time." The Prophet said then in her usual neutral voice heading for the place of the Captain and connected itself to the ship. Becoming one with the central computer which and binding it to it's will, it performed an scan of all the systems. Aside from the damage sustained from the battle so long ago the ship's systems had endured the passage of time well and it seemed that the previous Captain had done some repairs to the most damaged areas. The engines seemed undamaged and the reactors ready to go.

"We've reached the Cryogenic room." The Prophet heard the leader of the group it had sent to the Cryogenic room say. The Prophet accessed the cameras of that specific area, although it took it a while to restart the vigilance system. Then the Prophet saw the group of soldiers entering the room and saw them froze in place in front of one of the cryogenic chambers. Zooming on it, it realized what had elicited such a reaction. In front of them, frozen in cryogenic suspension, was a large specimen of the Swarm, not as large as a Harvester Queen but larger than the normal soldiers of that species

The group on the Cryogenic suspension room began reporting their findlings while the Prophet searched information about it on the ship's computers, and it found something surprising. The Swarm member wasn't classified as a prisoner but as a potential ally by the previous Captain of the ship. Before it could investigate further, Miradine's voice interrupted it.

"Do you think the Battleship will be able to take off?" The Princess asked nervously and not only because of their recent discovery.

"Why do you..." The Prophet began but then it noticed again, the ship's radars had detected several ships approaching saturn and the designation the radar had for them, it recognized as one of the first designations it's race had for the Swarm's ship "City Destroyer". "I'll begin working on it"


	12. Chapter 11: The Battle of Saturn

Hello Dark Cronos here with the new weekly chapter of my story, Independence Day Counter attack. I do have an announcement to make. Some of the people reading this story may be familiar with my Star Wars AU series of stories which has been on hiatus for a while now, if you are not and you like Star Wars I hope you read the stories and I hope you like them, well what I want to say is that I'm restarting that project. From now I will alternate updates on both stories, one week will have a Chapter of the Independence Day Story and the following week one or even two chapters of star wars, the SW chapters are shorter.

I'm still reading the Independence Day novels but this and the following chapter. Was written before I even began, I will begin to introduce things as I see fit on the chapters after that.

Responses to Reviews.

To Orionastro: Everything you said is basically true, and also here is one of the first space battles of this story I hope you like it.

To Guest: You've given me some interesting ideas as always, I will take them into consideration and I will see which ones I can use, about the Swarm Being, you will have to wait until next chapter to learn it's history.

To Ragnarok666: It was a pleasure reviewing your story, I haven't had time to finish it yet but I most definitely will. About writing a starcraft story I will see about it, I will have to replay the 2nd game and the expansions and watch some playthroughs of SC1's campaign which I played when I borrowed from a friend. As for your review your guess about the Swarm being is accurate but you will have to see how much next chapter

To 15delgizzij: Thanks for reviewing and for your support!

To Jarjaxle: Exactly, a space battle and a potential traitor to the Swarm.

LD: I don't own Independence day.

Chapter 11: The Battle of Saturn and Arrival to Mars.

Carlos and the members of both Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons flew outside the atmosphere of Titan and immediately spotted the intruders, sure enough those were Swarm City Destroyers as large as fully operational as they remembered them from the attack. It was a ship any pilot from Earth and probably every member of the races of the Resistance was familiar with. From the radio came the sound of Miradine's voice just as the giant ships were becoming larger.

"I've reported the situation to the ESD HQ." She said, although that was hardly good news just her obligation since the people from Earth couldn't really help them as long as they remained in Saturn.

" Great, Princess. Now, do you have any ideas on how to deal with these things?" Troy asked. "I'm just asking because normally they do not have any troubles dealing with large numbers of our fighters and that's just one of it's own. I really don't want to find out what they could do what they can do to only us between the three of them."

"Me neither" Charlie agreed and there was a few seconds of tense silence. They had come out of the moon because the Prophet needed at least fifteen minutes to get the ancient battleship on the space.

"Try to lead their fighters back towards titans, as far away as you can from the location of the ship. If we are lucky they do not have picked the Ancient Battleship's signal yet." Miradine said. "The Prophet has activated the stealth mode back on and we have done so too with the frigate." 

"Roger that" Carlos said as enemy fighters began pouring from the enemy ships.

"Here they come" Dylan said as they began exchanging fire with the enemy fighters, certainly their Fighters ship's were a gift from heaven but the enemy Fighters were had their own and casualties were almost unnoticeable. Both groups of Fighters converged for a moment and it took the human pilots all they had to come out of the dogfight again.

"Where do we head now?" Fujiko asked.

"I suggest Titan's ecuator" Isabel said and Carlos decided to heed the Major's advice, leading both Squadron's back towards the Saturnian moon with the enemy Fighters following close behind and the City Destroyers also following.

"Night Huntress we don't really know for how long we will be able to hold them off. I suggest you hurry up with repairs of the ancient Battleship." Jake said as he maneuvered to avoid severak laser shots headed his way. "We are not really going to be able to hold them for much time."

"That's not really up to us Captain." Miradine said. "But we are going to try to hold off the City Destroyers, that should give you a fighting chance."

"You just need to hold them for ten minutes" The Prophet's voice sounded.

"Easy for you to say" Jake mumbled as the Fighters entered Titan's atmosphere again.

"Alright give them hell guys!" Carlos ordered. "From now on Scorpion and Legendary will break formation and engage at will"

"Yes sir!" everyone replied as they obeyed the orders turning around their Fighters to face off against the enemy Fighters.

"I really don't want to know the difference in our numbers" Charlie said as he destroyed one of the enemy Fighters and got pursued by three more.

"No one does really" Troy said as he assisted him getting rid of one of the pursuers. "It's better not to think about it." 

"Then stop talking about it!" Rain shouted at her lover and her wingmate. While she and Patricia destroyed another two of the pursuers as both of them dove down towards their targets

"Yes ma'am." Troy and Charlie said at the same time.

"Guys our shields are taking quite the endurance test" Dylan said. "We have to try and maneuver more to avoid getting hit."

"How!" Jake protested. "We barely have space to fly."

"Calm down" Carlos said as he finished another dogfight with an enemy Fighters. "Head the clouds and regroup."

"Huh, I don't think that will be an option" Patricia said as everyone noticed the Shadow of a City Destroyer over them. "We should really just try to be smaller targets." She added as the City Destroyers guns began shooting down towards the cloud of Fighters.

"What the fuck!" Jake said. "Their allies are here too! Why are they shooting?"

"I think they are more serious than usual" Rain said as everyone took evasive action and the enemy Fighters tried to do the same but ended up forming an unwilling shield.

"Night Huntress There is a City destroyer over us" Carlos said over the radio. "They are even shooting their own allies down we need some help here"

"I'm sorry but we are busy here too" Came Miradine's reply.

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"I'm sorry but we are busy here too" Miradine replied to Carlos' request for support, and indeed the Night Huntress was busy, as it was currently exchanging fire with the two remaining City Destroyers. The Bridge along with rest of the ship shook violently and their shields energy lowered considerably as they were hit by a new wave of shots from the enemy's weapons.

"Status report" Miradine demanded from her bridge operator.

"There has been some damage near of our engines, we are working to repair it." The operator replied. Miradine growled as she observed how while one of the city destroyers was visibly damaged the other one was still intact. Of course this was due to her order of concentrating the fire on one of the enemy ships but if things continued this way it would certainly end badly for them.

"Contact the Prophet" She ordered the comms operator. "Ask it how much longer will it take for it to repair the battleship. The operator nodded and relayed her message and received an almost immediate response.

"They say it will be ready in two minutes." The operator relayed as the ship shook violently again.

"Engine one has been hit badly. It's functioning at fifty percent!" Another operator reported and Miradine growled. Could it be that as little time as two minutes would be too much. "Just one, let's destroy just one" she thought to herself. "Increase the power to our guns and contact the Fighters , tell them to get out!" She ordered next.

The following instants passed rather slowly, even the big explosion generated by one of the City destroyer seemed to go in slow motion for Miradine. Luckily that event also damaged the other City Destroyer which stopped firing as and trying to evade to avoid further damage, Miradine ordered to fire on the remaining city destroyer but her strike didn't last long as both Scorpion and Legendary squadron headed towards them with the third city destroyer firing their way. She growled, for a moment, in her rush to get the Fighters out of danger she had lost the advantage she had just gained. It's shields and the ship in general wouldn't survive another 2 vs 1 against the City Destroyers.

However her worries dispersed as a barrage of attacks not coming from her ships heavily damage the incoming City Destroyer which stopped it's ascension as the gravital push from titan brought it back towards the moon surrounded by a flaming inferno. It was then when Miradine saw it as the large battleship appeared besides it. The remaining city destroyer shot everything it had at the visibly damage newcomer but even in that state it was not a match for the Battleship from the Prophet's race, which made Miradine wonder how could the aliens have shot down the Battleship in the first place.

For the first time the Princess observed the Battleship well as she hadn't paid much attention to it's exterior when they had found it., like they had thought it was several times larger than her frigate and was shaped as as a very large metal grey oval, with hundres perhaps thousands of weapons and and six very large main laser cannons mounted on it. What she assumed to be the bridge was located in the middel and it was very similar although larger to that of her own frigate, Now that she was seeing it in combat she could say confidently that it was not only an imponent sight but also a terrifying one, even more so knowing it was damaged

"Let's withdraw from here" sounded the Prophet's voice over the radio. "I've opened one of my Battleship's hangars for the Fighters, Scorpion and Legendary squadrons head there." The Prophet said. The Fighters obeyed immediately and headed for the open hangar on the ship's left side away from Miradine's sight. Seeing itself unable to win the remaining City destroyer accelerated to more light speed and was gone from there in a few miliseconds.

"Your ship has been damaged quite heavily. The Engines look damaged." The Prophet said. "And I don't think that with my rudimentary repairs this ship will be able to reach Earth.

"Doesn't the ESD have a base in Mars?" Miradine asked. "Perhaps we could conduct some repairs there before heading for Earth."

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David let out a sigh he'd been holding all throughout the operation after Miradine informed HQ that they were on their way to Mars for repairs. He'd never regretted more being right than with the appearance of the three City Destroyers although he had been planning for more moderate risks when he'd allowed the fighters to go with the Frigate in search of the lost battleship. One look at everyone in the room told him that he wasn't the only one feeling relieved after this, almost everyone was like him, especially Rodrigo who had pictured himself writing to the families of his men or those who had them a letter on how their beloved family members had died in service. The only one who didn't seem relieved but ecstasic was Mitchell. He had a big smile on as he heard Miradine and the Prophet report on the battle and the necessity of stopping in Mars for repairs.

"Of course we will inform the Commander of our forces in Mars to expect you. Mitchell over and out" he said authorizing their stop and finishing the communications. He then looked around without dropping his smile.

"We might have actually found something amazing." He said referring to the battleship. "Did you all see that? One City Destroyer destroyed and one heavily damaged after only a few attacks. That kind of weapon, mass produced if possible is what we need to win this war." He added.

Zarhok said nothing even though it seemed he had wanted to reply something at Mitchell but just decided to leave the room. Perhaps because he didn't really want to generate troubles with the Military leader of the Human forces by asking him what was wrong with him. Their men had almost died fighting against the Swarm and he was treating it as a weapon's test for the retrieved Battleship. Granted the casualties had been none or at worse almost none, but to not show concern for ones men was despicable whatever the outcome had been. Or at least Zarhok thought that way.

The General ignored his alien counterpart as it left the room and he looked at Albert who had been silent all throughout the mission. "It seems we have found a hidden treasure Ambassador."

"Yes, the Resistance 's fight will much easier with that Battleship" Albert said as he remained serious and with a poker face that didn't show his true thoughts. "The study of it will surely be useful for humanity's future fleet." He said and looked at Okun. "Do you think the Prophet would agree to spend some time with the engineer teams working on that project?"

"I suppose it wouldn't have troubles doing so." Okun said with a nod.

"That's good, I shall inform the Council of our intentions then. Also I shall speak to the Secretary General of the brave actions of Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons as I'm sure General Zarhok will inform of Captain Miradine's brave actions as well." He said as headed outside the room leaving a very confused Mitchell who had expected to be congratulated, even though he had actually done little more than propose a plan and authorize a mission, staring at him as he left the room. A few moments later Okun, Rosenberg and Umbutu also left the room leaving only David, Rodrigo and Mitchell alone with the operators.

Mitchell didn't understand at first, the operation had been a success, there had been little damage done to their men and they had been able to acquire a new weapon. David sighed and shook his head.

"General" he said. "I understand you are glad of having obtained a new weapon. I know that said weapon will give us a fighting chance but..."

"But what?" Mitchell asked.

"With all due to respect you haven't shown concern for our men or the Resistance Fighters out there." Rodrigo said. "We are all happy that we have gotten the ancient ship but we all were worried sick when we've seen the City Destroyers, worried not only about the mission but the lives of out men."

"And you seem to want to take all the credit for their hard won battle and their accomplished mission. You are always claiming that we don't respect you and accusing some of us of insubordination but I thought caring about your subordinates was common sense for any good military commander" David added. Instead of protesting Mitchell seemed to be immersed in thought at this words. Seeing that the General didn't have a reply for this David looked at Rodrigo, could it be that Mitchell was actually seing their point for once.

"Sir we've detected a fleet entering our system" one of the radar operators told them and Mitchell shook whatever thoughts he had aside for now.

"Friendly or Hostile?" He asked the Operator in his usual authoritary voice

"It is the Resistance Fleet." The radar operator informd him. "They are reporting that they will arrive on Earth tomorrow night, or the day after tomorrow in themorning."

"Tell them we'll be ready to receive them." Mitchell said before heading out of the room and leaving Rodrigo and David alone. Whether he was fleeing from further conversation or not only the General knew. Rodrigo looked at David.

"Well there went our free day" the spaniard said as he looked at his watch which marked that it was a few minutes past midnight. "Do you want to grab a beer at my place before you head home.

"Are you kidding? Catherine is going to kill me for leaving her alone to clean everything up." David said with a small smile.

"Ah l'amour." Rodrigo teased his friend.

"Shut up" David said. "Are you gonna head home then?"

"Nah, I won't be able to sleep anyway." Rodrigo said. "Not until I know that our men have reached Mars. I planned to use the beers to get my mind off of it but since you are so whipped, I'd rather stay here until I know they have arrived."

"I see" David said nodding in understanding. "Well, goodnight"

"Goodnight" Rodrigo said as he waved.

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The Night Huntress and the ancient Battleship arrived at Mars a few hours after the battle. Luckily both ships's state hadn't worsened with the travel although they had advanced at at least half the speed they had gone on their way towards Saturn. Miradine observed the Red Planet, often considered as Earth's smaller sibling. According to what she had researched before the war of 1996 Mars was the favorite planet from where humanity liked to imagine an attack would come from, and after the war... well those stories kind of lost their appeal. Even though the humans had been victorious those stories also reminded people of the huge casualties suffered during it, and Miradine guessed that after the war of 2016 the market for those kinds of movies hadn't exactly expanded.

"Night Huntress this is General Mendvedev, commander of the ESD forces on Mars." A voice sounded in the whole bridge, it was a voice with a thick russian accent, Miradine assumed the comm operator had deemed important enough for it to be transmitted through the ship's speakers. Miradine approached the comm system and turning of the shipwide speaker system she replied.

"This is Captain Miradine from the Night Huntress" Miradine spoke. "We are glad to hear your voice."

"I'm gonna send you the coordinates of our main base" Mendevev said as he worked towards.

"Thank you we are grateful for that." Miradine replied. Once they received the coordinates they headed for the ESD's main base on the Red Planet, if Miradine was correct it was not only the biggest one but the oldest one, although according to what she knew it had been built by France not Russia but she supposed that after the second attack and being part of the ESD the commander didn't necessarily have to be french, and the only one fully operative as the other ones, partially functional, weren't completed yet.

The base was located near the entrance of of a canyon facing the reddish Mars deserts. Several H-8 fighters seemed to belanded before it, about twenty of them or so, but there was ample space for them to land, even the twenty km long Battleship that they had retrieved could land on the base's installation.

"Take care of the landing procedures" She told the ship operator as she left the bridge and headed for the frigate's entrance which she reached a few minutes later. Several members of the ship's security details dressed in ther black armors joined them with breathing masks to breath in the harsh Mars atmosphere, why the humans hadn't tried to terraform the Red Planet yet was beyond her. The Frigate's gates opened and as soon as the ramp touched ground Miradine, who had adjusted her own mask and breathing gear, descended from her frigate.

As she did she observed the arrival of a group of human vehicles, slightly but that much different from the vehicles she had seen on Earth. On them mounted humans dressed in suits that were a mixture of space suit and combat armors of a dark grey color similar to the black armors the Resistance wore. Miradine and her group waited for the human welcoming party to reach them and the human.

The Prophet's ship finished landing procedures as well just as the convoy that had been sent to pick up Miradine stopped and waited for her. The Princess observed the ship again and smiled, they had made it, their mission was complete. The group of humans soldiers approached her and her escorts and the woman who seemed to be the leader spoke, her voice slightly mechanical as she spoke from her armored space suit.

"Welcome to Mars" She spoke. "I'm Lieutenant Samantha Roberts. Nice to meet you Captain Miradine." She added as she saluted.

"Likewise lieutenant." Miradine said returning the salute. Even though the human salute was not a military salute she had been acquainted with before, she had grown accostumed to it over the time she had spent on Earth. "Is General Mendevev at the base?"

"Yes ma'am." Lieutenant Roberts replied "He is expecting you at the Control room." She added and Miradine nodded. She got on the first vehicle, a car similar to the humvees she had seen on Earth and her escorts got on the other vehicles of the small convoy. Before the driver began to drive back to the base the radio came to life.

"HQ this is Sokolov" a masculine voice sounded. "We have arrived at the entrance of the battleship but there are Resistance soldiers and some robot blocking our path. The Prophet has not descended."

Roberts looked at Miradine who seemed worried at this development, she had been in contact with the Prophet for most of the way towards Mars until almost their arrival and she had not told Miradine anything that would explain this behavior, although she had checked on something more than once and had promised her she would explain it to her when they reached Mars. This behaviour made Miradine as curious as she was worried although she had the suspicion that it had something to do with the lifeform found on the Battleship.

"Lieutenant can you head towards the entrance of the Battleship?" She asked Roberts who nodded and looked at the driver who turned around and headed for the coordinates of the other convoy at the entrance of the Battleship. Miradine then contacted the operators on the Night Huntress' bridge and told them contact the Prophet and to tell her that she coming to her. A few seconds later they informed her that the Prophet was expecting her.

A few minutes later their convoy reached their destination. Sokolov and his men stood in front of a group of Resistance Fighters and some Robots, if Miradine was correct those were the security and assault bots she had heard the Prophet talk about when she had entered the Battleship for the first time on Titan. Jake also stood in front of his colleagues, dressed in a silver spacesuit with a helmet with a cristaline visor, different in that regard from that of the Resistance's and the ESD's helmets, which allowed everyone to see his face and seemed to be the one in charge of not letting them pass. When the member of Legendary squadron saw Miradine approaching he saluted her and seeing this the man she assumed to be Sokolov did as well.

"Jake, what is happening here?" Miradine asked without returning the salute this time.

"It's complicated" Jake said, clearly he was uncomfortable with this situation. "The Prophet has given orders not to let anyone enter the ship before you arrive." Jake looked at one of the Resistance Soldiers. "Accompany the Princess to the Cryogenic suspension room" The resistance fighter nodded and allowed Miradine to pass, following her with one of his companions.

"I will return as soon as possible, please transmit the Prophet's apologies to the General and mine as well" She said before ascending the ramp. Roberts nodded and reported to Mendvedev over the radio.

Miradine followed the Resistance soldiers as they advanced without talking. Whatever it was that had the Prophet worried about that lifeform it had to be huge, especially since it had recruited Jake and he assumed the rest of Scorpion and Legendary squadrons to help her keep the other ESD men and women out.

After a few minutes of walking the members she reached the entrance of the Cryogenic suspension room, which was guarded by two Resistance Fighters who looked straight ahead as Miradine and entered with the other two soldiers. The members of Scorpion and Legendary squadrons were all there looking worriedly ahead at one of the cryogenic machines and Miradine froze, not because the room was cold but because inside one of the cryogenic suspension machines was a member of the Swarm. And the Prophet was near said machine trying to get it open or find out who this surprise guest was.

"What is this?" She asked her voice not revealing any emotion other than utter surprise.

The members of both Fighter squadrons looked at the princess only now noticing her presence. "That's what we are trying to figure out." Troy told her with a nervous smile. "At first we thought it was a prisoner, but it seems that whoever put it in there, didn't think the same." 

"What do you mean?" She asked as she slowly approached the machine.

"The ship's computer has it listed as an ally" Patricia said clearly as uncomfortable with this situation as Jake had been. Taking a good look at the faces of her new human friends it was clear that all of them were curious yet uncomfortable because of the presence of the member of the Swarm.

"I'm going to open it" the Prophet declared and everyone's eyes widened.

"What?" Miradine asked. "Why are you going to free such a vile creature?" One of the things she knew best was that she preferred the members of the Swarm, dead or inactive.

"Shouldn't we report this to General Mendvedev?" Carlos said clearly not liking the idea either. They had agreed to try and let the Prophet try and figure out the reason for the presence of the Swarm being on the ship because it was frozen and posed no threat. If they took him out of the cryogenic suspension, he wasn't sure he could keep a possible threat from the General.

The Prophet stopped itself for a moment. It knew very well that both Miradine and Carlos were right when they expressed their concern, but this was very unsettling and it wanted to clear why this being was on one of it's people's ships listed as an ally nonetheless. There weren't any records on the computer and the machine didn't seem to have been tinkered with, although there were some records of it having opened on at least two instances, which was suspicious. The only possible option the Prophet saw to figure out the mystery was to ask the being directly and he didn't know if any sensible military commander would not let them "revive" an enemy on their own base, especially with the known telepathic connection each of these beings had with their Harvester Queens. If Mendvedev was like some of the Earth Military men it would destroy it upon learning of it's existance.

Seeing the doubts the Prophet was having, Dylan spoke. "I believe if we report and explain this to General Mendevev, he will allow us to revive it. He will also provide extra security to make sure it doesn't become a problem should something go wrong. Not every officer on the ESD is like General Mitchell."

The Prophet stopped for a moment. Dylan was right, plus if it had learnt anything from the ESD officers was that they didn't like these kind of things to be a surprise to them. It should contact Mendevev and explain, it was the most logical option. It separated from the machine and threw the Swarm alien a last look before turning around and looking at Miradine at the rest.

"I will contact General Mendvedev." The Prophet finally said and it could see that it's words left the Fighter Pilots and Miradine relieved.


	13. Chapter 12: The Guest

Here is the following chapter of this story thank you all for reading and reviewing. As you know your support is what keeps this story going. Now I will respond to the reviews but first I would really like to encourage the people who read this story to review if they have not done so yet, if you have any doubts, any ideas, any criticism or just to know your opinion I would like you to review. To those that do review with every chapter I encourage you to keep doing so, as your words of encouragement, your ideas and your questions are what is helping me continue this story. Now the responses.

To Orionastro: Thank you as always for your review. I'm also looking forward to writing the part of the story you are referring to, but you will have to be patient, it will take a while for the massive Earth fleets and the full "colonization" of other planets but it will come, for now the development of the human fleet is underway and will be greatly advanced with the Ancient Battleship.

To Guest: I'm updating this story twice a month now I'm concentrating on another fanfic as well, please keep continue with your support.

To Ragnarok666: In relation to my Starcraft story I cannot tell you if it will be very soon, I will try to write a oneshot first and see how it goes, but before I do have some projects I would like on continuing first, we will see. In response to your review, the alliance is fragile like some alliances at first, it's too soon to say, however it's true what you say about Harvesters probably trying to exploit this early weakness.

AN: I do not own ID4 nor it's expanded universe or sequel Resurgence

Chapter 12: The Guest.

General Mendvedev entered the Cryogenic suspension room followed by Lieutenant Roberts, who without her armor and her helmet on had the fealtures of an african american woman of thirty-something years definitely attractive but with a small scar on hear left cheek clearly a reminder of recent or old battle, Captain Sokolov, a tall blond man with bright green eyes and a fit body, and Jake. The General was a man on his late fifties with very short hair with a small neatly cut beard of great hair with an imposing physique typical of those in the military that had undergone a severe training. His blue eyes were penetrating and the fire of determination still burnt with force on his irises and it was certain that he would win any sta ring contest with even more imposing men.

The general observed the members of Scorpion and Legendary squadrons as well as Miradine and the Prophet before he spoke. His face revealed nothing when he noticed the frozen Swarm alien which was enclosed on one of the machines at the room.

"I see you have a reason to keep me waiting" The General told the Prophet after the members of both squadrons saluted him and he returned the salute

"It's nice to meet you General." The Prophet spoke in its robotic voice. "We found it here when we came to retrieve the ship." The Prophet explained.

"I believe it will be a good study subject for the scientists back on earth." The General spoke. "But I'm not sure why you have initially kept it a secret"

"The reason I kept it a secret General was because I was confused about the presence of this Being on the ship." The Prophet replied. "According to the main computer of this ship it is not a prisoner the previous Captain made. The Computer has it listed as an ally."

Mendvedev frowned as he heard the Prophet speak. This beings had been the ones that had attacked the Earth not once but twice killing thousands of millions, the mere concept of one of them not being an enemy to eliminate repulsed him. But then again the Prophet was a being who had been helping Humanity ever since it's arrival on earth when the idiots at Luna Base and on the UN Security Council had decided to shoot down it's ship prior to the second attack, not to mention it's race had apparently been destroyed by the Swarm and it was the only survivor, it's concerns about this particular matter were worthy of being heard.

"Then what do you want to do with it?" He asked keeping his cool.

"I would like to unfreeze it and interrogate it." The Prophet replied and the General looked like he had been shot right at that moment.

"What?" He asked thinking that he had misheard the Prophet.

"I want to bring this being out of Cryogenic suspension and interrogate it" The Prophet replied not paying attention to the incredulity on the general's voice and the expressions of the subordinates of that man.

"This being and beings like it have only brought death and destruction to my people and my planet!" Mendvedev said angrily. "Just one of them has proven to be dangerous and you want to unfreeze one of them on my base!?"

"General I won't be able to solve the mystery of the presence of this being on this ship until I interrogate it. I'm aware of the possibility of this being very dangerous and that's why I have informed you of it." The Prophet said determined to let the general know that it was in no way asking for permission.

The Russian ESD general sighed seeing that going on with that discussion would not bring them anywhere. "Do you think you will be able to control this thing if it gets violent?"

"This ships has countermeasures for that kind of incident." The Prophet reassured him.

"If that's the case" The General said. "I will allow you to conduct whatever this is. If something goes wrong however I will say that I knew nothing about this."

"Thank you General." The Prophet said.

"Besides the Countermeasures you will have in place I'd like a team of my best men to be on the ship as extra security" The General said.

"It will be difficult to say that you didn't know anything if your men provide extra security General." Carlos said.

"If my men are here the chances of an incident will decrease I will find a way to save my ass if something goes wrong but my priority is my base and the personnel on it." Mendvedev replied, he then looked at Captain Sokolov and Lieutenant Roberts. "Make preparations for it and inform contact Colonel Truffaut, she should be at the "Marte 2" base.

"Yes sir" Both subordinates replied heading out of the room. Once they were out the General looked at the Prophet.

"I hope the mystery is worth it." He said as he went out and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, it was then when Miradine's com device came to life and she frowned. Everyone looked at her wondering what had her worried now.

"The incoming Resistance Fleet has contacted us." She said. "My younger sister is with them and she wanted to inform me that they have picked up our signals in Mars and will stop here before continuing to Earth."

None of them really understood the gravity of her words, only the Prophet did as it asked. "Who is leading the fleet?"

"Council Member Krangton's younger brother, Marduk." She replied.

"We need to initiate wake this Being now." The Prophet said and faced Carlos. "Contact the General."

Still not knowing why the members of both Fighter Squadrons looked at each other in confusion but Carlos nonetheless obeyed the order.

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While the General was annoyed by the sudden request of hurrying with the addition of extra security to the ship he understood why a Rebel Fleet would bother the Prophet, he had been against the Plan again, the Swarm only awoke his worst side, he couldn't imagine how beings who had lost their planet would react to the idea of waking that being, much less the possibility of it being an ally. The Spheric alien had been clearly reluctant to inform him of its intentions of waking the Swarm being and he imagined a Resistance Fleet, would be much worse, more difficult to convince. Looking at the clocks on the Martian base's control room and the contacts the incoming fleet had initiated with the control room's both on Earth and Mars it would be about 14 hours before they arrived on the Red Planet.

Meanwhile at the Ancient Battleship, the members of both Fighter Squadrons along with Captain Sokolov his men and some Resistance aliens observed as the Prophet with the control console of the Cryogenic suspension machine the Swarm Being was on. There was some tension in the air as no one really knew what would happen once that machine was opened and humans and alien alike gripped their laser weapons strongly seeking some kind of reassurance. When the Prophet finished inputting the commands on the console the machine opened and the Swarm being fell forward being even larger than they had thought before.

"So this is a Harvester alien?" Sokolov asked. Before the arrival of the resistance the ESD had taken to calling the otherwordly invaders either just aliens or harvesters, this last one had been especially used after the war of 2016, due to their intentions on their Planet, however since the arrival of the first Resistance ship humanity now used their term to address the alien threat. The large body of about, three and a half meters was inactive almost as if it was dead. "Is it...?" Sokolov began to ask but the Prophet replied before he could finish.

"Cryogenic suspension has a recuperation process, it may take a few hours before it wakes up fully." The Prophet said as two security bots picked up the body and dragged it away accompanied by a human and an alien soldier. "I hope it will be able to awake before the arrival of the Resistance..." it began to add but before he could finish Sokolov's comm came alive and the Captain received some information that made him put on a grimm expression.

"An unknown Object is approaching Mars" he informed gravely. "Probably a Swarm Colony ship."

"So those three City Destroyers weren't alone then." Jake said as pale as all his companions were with this new information. While a Colony ship was not the biggest kind of ship ship the Swarm had it had been the one responsible of conducting the attack on Earth in '96, it could carry up to 24 City Destroyers and could obliterate on life on Mars several thousand times if it wanted even with the base's powerful laser weapons.

"We will head for our fighters." Carlos said moving with the members of both Squadrons following him.

"Wait" Sokolov said. "It has not deployed it's city destroyers yet, it seems to have stopped several thousand km away from the planet."

"The Frigate has it systems down?" The Prophet asked Miradine who nodded.

"They have turned it down after the first system check" Miradine said. "My men are now assessing the damage in person, only the basic systems are on."

The Prophet moved towards the entrance of the room as it delivered orders. "No one move a muscle, I'll activate the cloaking and camouflage systems."

Everyone understood what it was doing, it had guessed the Mothership was looking for them and was the Prophet was trying to avoid detection but there was a very good chance that the Swarm ship had already detected them so none of them were too hopeful about that. A few minutes passed before the lights went off, only the light from the cryogenic machines, which were supported by an independent auxiliary energy source iluminated the room with a whitish light.

Using her comm Miradine contacted the Prophet. "The energy is down here, however won't they have already detected us."

"It's a possibility, but in case they haven't this will make it more difficult for them to find us." The Prophet said. "Plus if what they scan is only the human presence I doubt they would attack the Planet."

"That's just wishful thinking considering they have been scanning for a while now and they have attacked Earth Twice" Troy interrupted them.

"Humanity has been the only race to destroy a Harvester Queen" The Prophet replied. "They have underestimated you before and it didn't go well for them." There was a moment of silence. "Miradine I need you at the recuperation room." It said as one of the security bots entered.

"What's the matter?" Miradine asked.

"Our friend has woken up." The Prophet informed her. "And your abilities will be useful to see if he's truthful with his answers."

"But I've never used them on a Swarm Being, I'm not sure they will work." Miradine said.

"We will have to try" The Prophet replied "You have used it on Telepaths before right?"

"Yeah" Miradine said still unsure.

"Let's hope that will suffice." Said the prophet

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General Mendvedev received observe the radar where he could see the presence of the alien colony ship near the planet. It was not moving and yet like the military leaders of Earth during the war of '96 the General first instict was to blast it out of the sky by the Prophet had warned him against it. It had told him to conduct bussiness as if the enemy wasn't there, or at least make defense preparations as discreetly as possible and his second in command, Trufaut, also seemed to agree to observe the enemy's movements for now when he had contacted her, with their allied fleet, still about twelve hours away from the Red Planet to launch a frontal attack without being attacked would be to sacrifice all of their pilots and Fighters in vain.

"Sir" Came the panicked voice of one of his men, one of the operators at the control room. "We've lost contact with Earth and the incoming fleet.

"What about the planetary transmissions?" The General asked.

"No, we have no problems on that area." The operator replied after performing some test.

The general growled, it was clear that the aliens were clever, they were isolating them before attacking as per their usual MO. Hopefully they would take their time, hopefully the Confederation's fleet would arrive soon and his men's lives would be spared. He really hoped that would be the case, it would be a shame if he was sent to meet some of his friends and family before he had been able to avenge them.

"General" The radar operator said. "City destroyers are breaking away from the enemy Colony Ship."

"Are they heading towards the planet?" The General asked as he observed the radar again where the enemy signals were multiplying."

"It doesn't seem like it." The operator said. The General observed the enemy fleet and narrowed his eyes. Like the operator had said it didn't look like the enemy ships were approaching the Planet instead they just seemed to remain around the Mothership. Seeing where they were placed, the General smiled, it seemed there was some truth to the Prophet's words, the enemy wanted to intimidate them but they seemed somewhat reluctant to attack.

"Sir, Colonel Truffaut wants to speak with you" The Comm operator reported to him. The General nodded and approached the com system. "Mendvedev here."

"Sir" Spoke the voice of Colonel Anne Marie Truffaut. "Our radar shows that the enemy has deployed the City Destroyers."

"I see it Colonel." The General replied sensing that his subordinate was uneasy about that. "They seem to want to intimidate us. However I believe that the Prophet's assessment as well as your own were right, for the time being we will continue to observe. Are your Fighter Pilots on your base ready to act if necessary?"

"Yes sir" Anne Marie replied. "I have ordered the builders to continue working at my base as well as the other bases, but all the gunners are on high alert now."

"Good" The General replied. "Mendvedev over and out." The General said pleased that things were working to their favour and the Colonel had demonstrated some initiative in preparing the bases for the attack. When they had begun working together over a year ago, the Colonel, the youngest colonel in the history of the French modern military history had been uncooperative and even somewhat hostile towards him, since France had been the one to colonize Mars and the ESD normally assigned a General from the country who'd done so to command their bases outside Earth, she had expected to be assigned to the post when her former superior had retired shortly before the attack of 2016.

However after the war Russia had lost it's relatively new colony on Rhea and France had lost the candidates for commander of the Martian base during the attack on Paris. As such, Medvedev, who had ironically been on the Mars base resting on his way to Rhea where he was supposed to be relevating the commander there when the second war broke out had been assigned by both Europe and Russia to be the next commander of the Marte 1 Base, crushing the hopes Anne Marie had to be elected herself as commander of the base. Now, however she had learnt to consider Mendvedev as a mentor more than a rival or an intruder and the team they formed leading the ESD forces on Mars was a pretty effective one.

"Sir" One of the operators spoke. "It seems like out "Guest" has woken up. The Prophet and Princess Miradine have entered the room where it is and placed measures to prevent the enemy fleet from detecting it's presence." He reported.

"I hope the Prophet figures out what it wants from that beast." Mendvedev thought to himself. "Have our men on the ship and around on high alert." He ordered the operator who nodded.

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The Prophet entered the room together with Miradine, Lieutenant Roberts and a Natrolean soldier who remained at both sides of the door as the other two approached the now fully awake member of the Swarm. The Being now stood observing his visitors wearily but made no brusque movements nor did he move away from the spot where it was now standing in all it's three and a half meters height, at least his biomechanical armor was 3 and a half meters, not that it mattered since the enemy aliens seemed to consider it an extension of their body and rarely showed their true bodies except when their enemies performed authopsies on them, which was not willingly, and sometimes when as a last desperate resort to defend themselves, even the prisoners back on earth had their armors always on so for all intents and purposes 3 and a half meters was it's real height. The Swarm being recognized the Prophet as a member of the race it's race was at war with, the race it had deserted to but the other female alien of shiny eyes it didn't recognize.

" **Hello, my name is Srakiadaratenissa Medvadearana Msinikaodora Illis."** The Prophet spoke on it's robotic voice. Alien the being didn't recognize seemed surprised at this revelation like she was the first time she heard her companion's name. **"She is Princess Miradine of Natrole. What is your name?"**

The Being looked at the Prophet surprised to hear his own tongue coming out of it but he supposed he shouldn't be. He had been witness so many years ago to the technical prowess of this race, the Captain or former captain had shown it to him when he had entered this ship for the first time. He had seen parts of it on the ruins of the former settlement of that race he had attacked with the rest of his species before his desertion.

" **My name is Sortum"** He spoke with a deep and profound voice into the minds of both of them surprisingly they understood it as well even if the translators couldn't translate thoughts although they supposed that this Being's telepathic powers were just that powerful. Miradine seemed surprised as she heard his voice on her mind, it was no wonder, Sortum's species had been infamous for their habit of using unwilling alien species to communicate with members of members of those beings species, using them as translators against their will with their telepathic powers which they used to communicate with each other, but they had never before used their telepathy in that way at least not with any of the races of the Alliance. **"I was once one of my people's Supreme Commander in our eternal quest for energy."**

" **Sortum..."** The Prophet said as it looked at Miradine. **"Why were you at my people's ship? Were you captured?"**

" **You should already know the answer to that question"** Sortum replied. **"Otherwise I would already be dead, wouldn't I?"**

" **So you deserted your people?"** Miradine asked as it became clear the young alien was also using a translation device.

" **I parted ways with the rest of my species when I no longer could tolerate their action or follow the path we had taken"** Sortum replied without giving anymore explanations.

" **What do you mean?"** The Prophet asked. **"Why Couldn't you follow it any longer?"**

" **Long ago my species was not the monsters the whole galaxy came to fear when we declared war on your species."** Sortum replied. **"Long ago we were prosperous beings with our own planet, our culture, our technology and our interests were different from what my people are now. However as our technology grew so was the need of a powerful energy source for our machines, our ships, our colonies..."**

" **And you found the way to mine your own planet's core for the energy it had."** The Prophet replied understanding what he was going to say next. Sortum nodded slowly and it was clear that the memory was painful for him.

" **At first our Queens and our Empress decided not to harvest or ue that energy, they were concerned of the repercussions on our Planet. That kept our planet's safe for many years but it didn't solve our need for energy. It got to a point when the energy sources of our planet eventually began dying down and those which could have been renewed became insufficient."** Sortum explained. **"Before long, the different Queens of our realm began fighting one another for the remaining sources of energy, back then the Empress's telepathic control over them was minimal and she could do little about it. Seeing this, the Empress decided to begin the mining of the Planet and our colonies' core and our planets began to die and when it did... so began the decline of my species and the formation of what you call the Swarm as she reinforced her control over the Queens"**

" **And you stopped following the path of your people when you learnt of this?"** The Prophet asked and the Being nodded.

" **It was then too when I got rid of the telepathic control my Queen had over me, it was the moment I regained what my species has been lacking, my individual thoughts, each of us was granted some autonomy and liberty of movement however in the end we were always controlled to some degree even if the Supreme commanders have the most autonomy within the hive mind aside from the Queens. It was different though I was outside the hive mind."**

" **How exactly did you learn of this?"** The Prophet asked as Miradine, who seemed to be looking at the depths of his soul, just seemed shocked. **"How did you learn of this without your Queen realizing this if ultimately she still had control over you?"**

" **My Queen realized it. When your people found me I was being lead towards the Empress' ship and probably be eliminated. My species has been looking for me ever since your people rescued me."** Sortum explained.

" **How do you know that?"** Miradine asked Sortum and he chuckled into their minds.

" **I've been feeling them, searching, searching the vastness of space and calling me The Betrayer and cursing my name"** Sortum replied.

" **That's why you came out of cryogenic suspension?"** The Prophet asked and Sortum nodded.

" **I always managed not to get detected but there had been some close calls. I had to move this ship twice, as difficult as it was for anyone not on your species to do so, when I felt too close to my position for comfort as well as when they destroyed part of this Planet's asteroid ring and one of it's satellites."** Sortum said. **"It seems I never managed to get them off my trail completely though."** He added probably referring to the Fleet outside Mars

" **They are currently blockading this planet"** The Prophet said. **"What exactly makes you that interesting to them?"**

" **The fact that I know where their Empress is."** Sortum replied.

" **The Empress is your supreme leader?"** Miradine asked, she had guessed she was at least from what he'd told them so far but she wasn't confirmation since it was the first time she heard of a Being like that. Not even the records of the ancient war the Prophet had mentioned an empress of the Swarm so this was completely new information to her and the Prophet, she suspected, wasn't aware of that information either

" **She is the Being that holds the Swarm together, the most powerful of the Harvester Queens and the only one that hasn't participated on an attack so far."** Sortum explained. **"She rarely moves from where she is and has barely any Ships to protect her."**

" **So if we destroy her..."** The Prophet began.

" **The Swarm will most likely fall apart."** Sortum confirmed. **"The Queens will be free from her control and they will fight against each other to fill the vacuum of power."**

" **So that will be our priority objective then"** Miradine said, excited about this new information. Her Truthseeing ability was telling her that this Being was telling the Truth so far and even the doubts she had about it working on a Swarm Being seemed to be gone, even if the being had used telepathy the Harvesters weren't the only telepaths she had used her ability on.

" **However"** Sortum said. **"The Little Security she has doesn't mean she is weak at all. And there is always at least one of our fleets ready to assist her if she is attacked, plus the place she is at is not an easy place to attack and conquer for it is at the centre of the Dead Worlds. Our former Home Planet, Arxia. And she is far more powerful than any of the Harvester Queens, at least 20 times more powerful"**

The Prophet observed the Being as Miradine's earlier excitement cooled down. Before it could speak the voice of General Mendvedev sounded through the comm.

"I have bad news" The Russian General said. "Some small fighters are descending on the planet, what do we do?"

The Prophet paused for a moment, it had activated the necessary means to be invisible to their scans but due to the state the ship was in she doubted they would be able to fool a Fighter pilot performing visual recconaissance and when they confirmed what they suspected an attack on the Martian Bases would begin. If they intercepted with their Fighters and shot them down it would be less suspicious but an attack was also likely to follow even if it was less likely than with the previous all depended on the accuracy on the Prophet's prediction of the Swarm's fear of humanity after the defeat of one of their Queens.

" **It seems my people have made a move."** Sortum spoke merely stating the facts without showing his feelings or opinions on that matter.

" **They have sent Fighters to perform a visual recconaissance."** The Prophet confirmed and the former Supreme commander seemed thoughful at this, as he spent a few seconds in silence.

" **They seem to be more prudent than usual."** He finally said. **"Normally they would have deployed the larger ships and obliterated all the beings on this Planet before taking the core's energy for themselves. Does it have to be with the disappearance of a Queen I felt recently?"**

" **The inhabitants of this System have destroyed one of the Harvester Queens as well as a previous attacking force."** The Prophet replied and Sortum nodded.

" **What you are saying is really interesting. That's probably why the Supreme Commander in charge of this fleet is reluctant about launching an attack."** Sortum said. **"Really interesting, so that was what became of the two fleets I felt."**

" **What do you suggest we do?"** The Prophet asked.

" **It's likely that they will attack whatever you do."** Sortum said confirming the Prophet's previous fears which suddenly became more real as it heard it from a former enemy. **"However I would destroy them.** **If you do that you will probably gain more time that if you show fear or weakness."**

The Prophet observed for a few seconds trying to detect any sign of lie or deception on his tone of features and he'd found none, but he was wearing a Biomechanical armor and what the Prophet was staring was not his real face. It then looked at Miradine who had been using her abilities for a long time and seemed not to mistrust the words of Sortum. It then looked at Lieutenant Roberts. She seemed to be nervous about the information the General had just delivered but stood firm by the door even if her first impulse was to run out the door and man the defenses.

"General take out their Fighters" The Prophet finally said hoping that it's decision was the correct one.


	14. Chapter 13: The Battle of Mars

Well everyone Dark Cronos here with the Chapter I promised you, I know I said would publish it earlier but I spent the weekend looking after my injured ankle and I completely forgot to upload it. I hope everyone is having a fantastic 2017 so far. Now for the reviews

To guest: I will develop this characters more I promise after I'm done with this arc the other one you will see more of what you want to see. We will also see if Sortum is to be trusted or not during this ark and the following ones.

To Orionastro: I think your idea is nice, but we will see about that, the next chapter though I think you will like. To your second review I hope the wait was worth it.

To Ragnarok666: My starcraft oneshot it's almost complete but I'm a little busy now so I don't know when I will publish it. About Sortum, yes, it could definitely be a trick, whether this swarm being knows it or not, I have not decided yet though.

Chapter 13: The Battle of Mars.

Rodrigo looked at the screens on the control room of the ESDHQ, observing worriedlies the image that the telescopes on Hawaii had kindly provided the ESD after they requested help when they lost contact with their bases on Mars. The last thing Rodrigo knew was that both the ancient Battleship and the "Night Huntress" had arrived on the martian base although he had not been able to get in contact with Carlos or any of the members of the Fighter Squadrons he commanded, the reports coming from the martian bases had calmed him down by saying everyone was alright.

That calmness had been fleeting when they lost contact with the Martian bases and their radars and the telescopes around the planet showed a terrifying thing. A combat fleet of the Swarm ready to obliterate the humans from the face of Mars.

Not reporting to any of his superiors about the situation, he saw no point since he knew the next logical step to take and a dicussion between David and Mitchell would have only made them lose time, he had managed to get in contact with the incoming Resistance fleet which had agreed to go to the human forces' aid and put some of the ESD's bases around the world on high alert as well as having the SETI try to make out what the full plan of the enemy if after the attack on Mars they planned to move onto Earth. Rodrigo could only pray now that his men would be alright.

"Still not able to get through to our martian forces?" He asked one of the operators who shook his head while a female one looked at him.

"Sir, shouldn't we report this to director Levinson and General Mitchell?" She asked. Rodrigo sighed and shook his head as he looked at his clock. It was almost seven in the morning and there was nothing else the people of Earth could do anyway but to wait.

"They are bound to come to work soon enough, let them rest." Rodrigo replied.

"You will get in trouble for this." The female operator said and he smiled.

"I knew that the moment I decided not to inform them the moment I learnt what the aliens are doing, but Earth does not have the means to reinforce our Martian forces, we are lucky that the Resistance's fleet is close enough that they can help." Rodrigo replied with a little edge on his voice. He knew the female operator was right but he also didn't regret the decisions he'd made during this crisis.

"However it sure it's weird." One of the operators mused and Rodrigo looked at the man.

"What is?" Rodrigo said.

"I know Mars has human life as well and all and losing it would be a catastrophe yet watching them blockade another planet like that, getting ready to attack it. It's like watching a movie." The operator said, and despite the gravity of the situation and his own men's lives being in danger Rodrigo couldn't help but agree with him. He just hoped it was a movie where the good guys saved the day and everyone got their happy ending. He concentrated back on the screen and looked at it intently for a while until the sound of the door opening distracted him and the voices of David and Okun entered the room.

He turned around to look at both scientist who remained frozen in place staring at the screens in front of them.

"What the hell!" David said as he observed the image of the Swarm blockading Mars. "Rodrigo what is it that I'm seeing?" David said fairly certain of what he and Okun were seeing

"The Swarm is blockading Mars" Rodrigo said confirming what they both saw. "They seem to have followed the ships to the Marte 1 Base."

"Why didn't you report this?" David said looking at the man.

"It didn't seem the enemy posed a direct threat to Earth, I've taken the necessary precautions to deal with them in case of an attack" Rodrigo replied. "And I've asked the incoming ally fleet for help."

Okun and David looked at each other, it seemed certain that Rodrigo had things under control so far.

"I can't wait to see what cool stuff they will bring with the ship" Okun said with his eyes shining like those of an excited 10 year old. It had been a while since David saw his colleague fully return to the way he was when he'd first met him more than 20 years ago.

"I do have a thing to report now that you are both here though." Rodrigo said. David and Okun looked at the spaniard. "The radar didn't show the entrance of this fleet into our solar system, they just appeared around Mars when they began blockading it."

Okun and David exchanged a worried glance. They'd always known that the Swarm of had mastered much faster than lightspeed travel and that their ships were always difficult to detect but they had hoped the radar which had been enhanced thanks to the Resistance's technicians would give them some kind of time to prepare in case of an attack. That it hadn't been the case with this incoming fleet was worrying. Before they could debate on it, the voice of Mitchell resounded through the control room.

"Someone explain to me why I haven't been able to give a convincing explanation to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the members of the Security Council on why I haven't reported that Mars was under attack!" The american military officer shouted as he entered the room.

Rodrigo sighed and proceeded to turn towards his commanding officer to whom, he guessed, he owed an explanation.

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The Prophet and Miradine told the members of Scorpion and Legendary squadrons as well as General Mendvedev, Sokolov and Williams the information that their unexpected ally had relayed to them, there was a good quantity of the skepticism on their faces as they listened to them and Mendvedev seemed pissed that the Prophet had based it's suggestions on how to deal with the enemy Fighters on a suggestion from a former Harvester Supreme commander. It was true that when the Fighters had taken care of the enemy Fighters the enemy fleet had remained content to remain on it's position, taking their sweet time before launching an attack. When both the Prophet and Miradine had finished the story Patricia Whitmore was the first of the group to speak.

"So he's told you he was one of the Supreme Commanders of the Swarm and that he was freed from it's grip. Did he tell you how?" She asked. Miradine shook her head.

"He claims that once he learnt the story of his race he was able to be freed from his Queen's control." The Princess said. "As far as I could tell he was being sincere."

"But he was wearing his biomechanical armor and he was speaking with you both telepathically." Dylan argued. "Are you sure he wasn't lying? You didn't have much confidence going in..."

"However now I am." Miradine said a little irritated that someone would doubt the veracity of her words.

"Well I for one will put my trust on your abilities." Troy interceded making the Princess blush. While she was developing a good relationship with the all the members of the Fighting squadrons however she was finding herself more interested in Troy than in the others, or at least the other males of the group. She didn't know yet why. "Destroying the enemy Fighters hasn't brought back any kind of response, however the enemy is still blockading the enemy Planet and we still have not begun the repairs on the ships." He added pulling the Princess back into reality

"It would not be wise to do so yet Captain" The Prophet said. "They are monitoring our activity and perhaps even our communications between our bases and inbase coms as well. I'd rather they do not get a confirmation of what they at least suspect."

"That's seems fair." General Mendvedev said. "If what you say it's true those beings fear us and won't risk an attack on our forces if they cannot get what they want, it's better to leave them with the doubts for the time being. According to our calculations it is most likely that the allied fleet will arrive here in four hours. If we can last that long we will have more of a fighting chance."

"Surely they have detected the fleet at the same time we did. That's why I believe that whatever they do, they will do so within the next two hours. Whether they retreat or attack, there is 95% probability they will do so within this time frame." The Prophet said.

"I guess we better get prepared then for the worst case scenario." Carlos said. He looked at General Mendvedev Captain Sokolov and Lieutenant Williams. "Do your pilots have any kind of special gear in case they have to bail out during planetary battles?" He asked rather needlessly, he knew that aside from when the personnel was inside the base or inside the ships they always wore armors and protective gear that allowed them to survive outside on the harsh martian atmosphere.

"We do, Lieutenant Roberts, guide our guests to the pilot lockers and give them some of our spare flight suits" The Lieutenant saluted her superior.

"Sir" She said. "Follow me Colonel." She added as stepped out of the room with the members of Scorpion and Legendary squadrons following her. The General looked at Miradine.

"I know that our coms are down and the ancient battleship's are too but what about your ship?" He asked.

"My crew has been trying to find a way to contact the incoming fleet ever since they began blocking our coms but it seems they have not had luck yet." Miradine reported.

"Hopefully Earth has noticed that there is something wrong going on and are trying to get them to help us." Mendvedev said. "So it seems talking to our "Guest" was at least a little bit worth it since we have info that we didn't have before and you didn't either. However if a way to destroy these beings, these Swarm or Harvester Beings or whatever you want to call them, is to destroy their "Empress" we still have a long way to go."

"This fight has been going on for many millenia." The Prophet said agreeing with the General. "It took that long for any race to win against them much less to kill one of their Queens. A few years ago the prospect of continuing the war much longer would have terrified me." The Princess and the General looked at her. "However now I think it'll be worth to walk all that way to victory. Don't you general?"

The princess chuckled and the general had the shadow of a smile on him. "I said we had a long way to go. But I always liked challenges." He replied and motioned to Sokolov to follow him. "Excuse me now but I have to make sure our bases are ready to kick those sons of bitches out of Mars.

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General Mendvedev observed the enemy fleet for at least half an hour as it showed on the main radar screens. It seemed to him that the harvester beings were too quiet on their part. He did trust the Prophet's assessment of them beginning to act before long however their actions so far puzzled him. With their Forces and resources they could easily send more than the fighters or attackers they had sent to scan a planet like Mars.

No matter if that Sortum, that thing, the Prophet liked to think of as a potential ally said it was because they are being prudent and the Prophet thought so as well. The Harvesters were alsp called the Swarm by the rebels for a reason which .the General didn't have to think much to guess why that was the first time he'd heard that name. They attacked in great numbers and left nothing but death and destructions in their way, he didn't think that was achieved by being too cautious.

"It can be just my imagination." He mused to himself and Sokolov threw him a look, he had barely heard what his superior had said and wondered if he had an order for him. It was clear that he didn't like to wait for the enemy to attack. General Mendvedev was about to wave him dismissively until another thought appeared on his head. "But what if it's not?" He turned around and looked at the radar operator.

"Do you know the area where our Fighters intercepted theirs?" He asked and the radar operator nodded.

"They were coming from the North, we intercepted them about fifty Km away from the base." The operator reported. The General nodded and looked at the Captain.

"Sokolov I want you to pick a group of men and head to that location, see if there are any remains of either enemy ship" The General told him and while Sokolov seemed confused at this he saluted and obeyed. When the younger russian officer was gone the General looked at the coms operator. "Contact the rest of the bases and tell them to do the same."

"Yes sir." The Com operator replied.

"And contact the Sphere as well, tell her we might have been fooled by our own arrogance." The General said. "And to prepare to activate both ships when I give the order, I will send engineers to the Ancient Battleship to deal with any problems that could arise" At this com operator nodded and the General returned to observing the enemy fleet, they still didn't make a move but to Mendvedev they seemed far more threatening than before. For now his suspicions were just based on his gut telling him that they were underestimating their enemy, true humanity had defeated them before but that didn't mean that they should begin underestimating a race that had obliterated whole worlds before. It was thirty minutes later when he began receiving back the reports from the men all the bases had dispatched.

"Sir Captain Sokolov is sending us a video of their findings" The coms operator reported and the General nodded.

"Put him on the main screen" He ordered and a few seconds later the image of his subordinate appeared.

"We have found traces of a small terrestrial device, they are too small to be a vehicle departing from the place of the wreckage. They head towards the base." Sokolov informed him.

Mendvedev frowned it was a report eerily similar to the rest of the reports he had received, it was too much of a coincidence, definitely a pattern. "Follow the trace, see where it leads to." He ordered. "And destroy the device as soon as you see it." He added. It was the same order he had given the other groups as well but the feeling on his gut was growing stronger.

He now knew why the enemy fleet had remained on Standby mode. They wanted time, to gather info on their enemy to prepare an effective strategy, if fear had something to do with that kind of decision making it didn't look like to Mendvedev. They had deployed the fighters as a distraction knowing the most normal reaction for the humans would be to destroy them, and then their reccon devices could act.

That was bad news because Mendvedev's job a little more difficult because as long as they could only hear their communication Mendvedev could fool his enemy in a variety of ways and resist but if they had eyes on the ground and visual confirmation of their enemy's capabilities the enemy would be much harder to fool.

"Report this info to the Prophet" The General ordered and the coms officer complied. "Have the pilots stand by on the cockpits." He told another who also obeyed.

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The Members of "Legendary" and "Scorpion" squadrons sat on the cockpit of their fighters along with the rest of the ESD pilots stationed in Mars. There was nervousness in the air and everyone could feel it but all the pilots around the Red Planet were determined to fight to the last man, resisting until their allied fleet arrived or none of them could fly. The alarm of the base sounded and every pilot prepared their Fighters as the comm speaker gave them the briefing of the situation.

"Attention all pilots, the enemy city destroyers are deploying attackers and fighters, all pilots take off and intercept. Do not exit the atmosphere keep the battle to the planet". Several confirmations sounded through the radio.

"Copy that" Carlos said giving his own confirmation as leader of their flight group as they along with the rest began to take off.

"Why are they moving only their attackers and fighters?" Charlie asked. "Anyone of those city destroyers would be a nightmare to deal with. Their attackers and Fighters alone can be an even match for our fighters but not our bases."

"I suppose they want to end with our defenses first." Dylan replied. "And then send their city destroyers to deal with the remnants. Pretty basic strategy."

"I suppose so" Charlie replied thinking it was only the nervousness that made him doubt the enemy strategy.

"Attention fighter squadrons none of the attackers are heading for Marte 1 base they've split into several groups and are heading for the secondary bases." The control room informed them. "Let the Fighters on those bases deal with them, return to base.

"Control this is Captain Morrison. What do you mean return to base? Some of those bases are still under construction and are heavily undermanned, they will need our help." Jake protested.

"We are aware of that fact Captain, but these are orders from the General. Return to Base now." The operator replied. Captain frowned and his wingmates as well, he understood that the general could think it was a distraction that as soon as the pilots of the main base had dispersed to reinforce their comrades at other places the enemy would launch a second wave to deal with them and the main base but the main base had great ground defenses in place, the other bases would be much more exposed to the fury of the attackers. Plus the enemy could see this as a sign of weakness and be much more brutal on his second wave of attacks.

"You heard him guys, return to base." Carlos ordered both squadrons and the fighters although his voice told them he didn't agree with the orders either.

"All pilots remain on your cockpits." The control room operator relayed Mendvedev's orders when the fighters returned a few moments later.

"We should be decisive on our defense why are we ordered to return to base when there is a battle going on?" Troy asked through the radio.

"It's not that we do not want to help our comrades" sounded the voice of the General. "But recent events have made me determine this strategy as the best for this battle.

"Sir, I'm sorry but what is happening why have you recalled the Fighters of the main base back, we could be helping the other fighters." Dylan said

"Major, I'm just changing the strategy to adapt to the situation." Mendvedev said. "You don't have to worry about the other bases just worry about protecting this one."

"How has the situation changed so that you would consider abandoning the other bases!" Troy asked angrily.

"The enemy has confirmation that your ships are here, it's trying to make us disperse our forces so that his main force can attack this base and we have more or less two hours until the reinforcements arrive. Our only option is to defend but we can't defend all our positions." The General replied. "I've been very generous explaining myself to you so far but if you continue like this I will arrest you for insubordination and have one of the substitute pilots replace you"

Troy was going to snap but Fujiko was fast to act. "We understand General we will await your orders." Prompting Troy to glare at his wingmate and the General to cut the transmission.

"I wasn't done" Troy said.

"Switch to a private comm frequency." Carlos said not wanting his men to get into more trouble

"I would also have liked to give him a piece of my mind myself." Jake admitted when no one could hear them.

"It would have been pointless" Rain chimed in. "None of us like it but the General's strategy makes sense."

"And it may not cost as many lives as you think" Charlie added. "Every base outside of Earth being built after the war of 2016 has a bunker that it's supposedly able to resist the firepower of a City Destroyer thanks to so pretty powerful ships. I'm sure the General has ordered the ground personnel to evacuate and take refuge inside those." He said showing once again why he had been one of the youngest people to graduate from the academy, he always liked to read about things and learn things even if those were outside his field of expertise. "I believe this one has at least two of those built when they modernized it."

"But what about the fighters?" Patricia asked. "They are being sacrificed like pawns." She had flashbacks towards the failed attempt on the mothership launched by many ESD pilots last year which had resulted on the deaths of most of them. While their situation had been different as there had been nothing the ESD could have done then to get to them and save them in time and the sacrifice had been their choice she didn't like doing nothing while her fellow pilots died.

"That's enough!" Carlos said ending the conversation. "Our orders have been given. Stop complaining." He ordered but all of them knew it was because he didn't want to talk about the comrades who were probably dying in that very moment even if he agreed with his wingmen.

After that they all turned to the general channel to hear the Prophet talking through it with the control tower.

"... Captain Miradine and I have been able to at least repair and keep online the weapons systems, we won't be able to fly yet but our weapons will serve as good anti-aircraft defenses." It was explaining.

"Have you returned to talk with that thing? what he told you seems to have been a trap." Mendvedev said, anger present on his voice.

"We believe that since he has spent several centuries in cryo-suspension he could be unaware of his people's tactics. Even if he still has a connection with them I think it is likely that the Swarm kept their strategy from him." The Prophet replied in it's usual monotone voice. "We will interrogate him again soon." It added before the General could reply.

"Good" The General's voice sounded.

"It's clear that this is not the general comms channel" Carlos told the rest and they returned to adjust their frequencies, it was clear that both the General and the Prophet had noticed them eavesdropping on their private conversation but they had said nothing they didn't already know so they figured they wouldn't since it had also been an accident.

"This is control" The voice of one of the operators said as they found the good frequency. "Two city destroyers are heading towards the planet" the operator this time a female said. "All fighters ready to scramble and intercept." Just as she finished the alarms went off again and in a matter of seconds the H8s were on the air ready to kick some alien ass.

It wasn't hard for them to notice the enemy City destroyers as they could be seen about fifty miles away from the base with their huge shadows looming over the red martian desert and two swarms composed of attackers and fighters received the defenders. Soon the ESD's forces were dispersed and fighting the enemy ships which heavily outnumbered them. The Battle was ferocious and the shouts of joy and cries for help as well as the orders from the flight leaders, squadron leaders and the Marte 1 control room, which made most of the pilots realize the superior officer had used another channel to give orders to their comrades fighting on the other fronts, perhaps to prevent the pilots from hearing the massacre be demoralized by it.

Jake and Dylan formed up after the two of them had destroyed a few of the enemy Fighters and headed for a group of the slightly larger attackers that were headed for Marte 1. Noticing their presence, two of them broke away from the one taking point on their formation prompting Dylan and Jake to follow their point. The attackers rather predictably took positions behind them. Both Dylan and Jake smirked as before the enemy could even try to shoot them down they were shot down them selves by Rain and Patricia who had also noticed the group of attackers and had also moved to intercept, the enemies inside the third attackers noticed their escorts were gone and tried to take evasive maneuvers but both Dylan and Jake blew them out of the sky before they could escape.

"Good Job!" Dylan exclaimed.

"The next time you could ask for help you know" Patricia said as they all returned to the fight.

"Nah we knew you were locked onto them." Jake replied as they saw a H8 taking out an attacker while he was pursued by three fighters with two H8s trying to get them off their wingmate. They knew who the pilot of the H8 was when his voice sounded through the radio.

"Guys could you get them off me already I'm not sure for how long I will be able to keep playing mouse with these three fighters." He said in a slightly panicked way.

"Calm down" Troy told him from one of the H8s trying to help him

"We are on it" Fujiko added as Rain accelerated and broke away to help her boyfriend as well. Meanwhile Dylan, Jake and Patricia formed a three man formation and tried to reach the approaching city destroyer, ending any of the enemies in their way. It wasn't long before Carlos and Isabel joined them.

"We are getting destroyed here." Isabel told them. "Those things keep pouring out of those city destroyers."

Certainly it was, the main base at Mars had at most about 75 combat ready H8s and the ESDs researchers had not been able to know how many small aircraft could a city destroyer carry, the human forces that had fought the harvester aliens on the desert during the war of '96, had faced against at least 500 attackers and even more had been found in the wreckage of that ship after it had gone down. Which meant no matter how many enemies a pilor shot down, it seemed that there was always another one to replace it.

"New orders all remaining Fighters are to retreat towards the base and get the enemy at least within ten miles of it." A male comm operator told them. "I repeat get the enemy within ten miles of our base."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that!" Charlie said.

"We will have to get out how we can" Carlos said but even he wasn't confident even ten percent of their remaining forces would be able to survive, the H8s shields were powerful but he too much concentrated fire power would mean they would be shot down just like the F-18s had during the war of 96.

And so 45 H8 came out of the swarm of enemy Fighters forcing the their ships engines to the max which could be dangerous even if several improvements had been made to prevent problems like the one that had taken Colonel Hiller's life. The Pilots kept their distance from one another preventing that their enemies could concentrate all their fire power on a single group of Fighters. However before they reached the ten miles which was a little under a minute, 10 more fighters had been shot down leaving their numbers down 35.

When they got the enemy to the designated location, the Bases anti-aircraft guns began to destroy the enemy's Attackers and Fighters. The ESD had spent years developine all kinds of weapons to fight against the threat of the Swarm/Harvesters and while some of it had been ineffective in 2016 they had continued to improve it with the new knowledge they had gained. This didn't go unnoticed by the enemy who recalled their fighters back to the city destroyers while the H8s took the offensive again paying the alien backs for their fallen comrades but quickly restarted their flight once they saw the City Destroyers approaching.

" The enemy City Destroyers are approaching." Carlos reported.

" Your orders are to get out of the way." The operator replied. "Don't stand between the City destroyers and the base and stand by for more orders."

"Roger that" Carlos said as the remaining H-8 dispersed. Just as no one was on the way the Marte 1 base's main guns shot at one of the city destroyers. The enemy ship had it's shields up but eventually the human's firepower overcame their shields and the enemy ship began going down. Not willing to take much damage to the base the second main gun shot the damaged city destroyer as well and a huge explosion took place with half of the city destroyer blowing up and falling to the ground a few miles away from the base. The second city destroyer however continued it's course unperturbed by the loss of the other one. Soon it was positioning itself just over the ancient battleship the main objective of that mission.

"Marte 1, the enemy is preparing to attack." Carlos said although he was sure everyone at the base had realized that. "We will move to engage again."

"Colonel wait" the voice of the Prophet sounded through the radio. "I will take care of this one." It said and the next thing Carlos Knew was that the Ancient Battleships main cannons all pointed at the enemy ship, positioning themselves almost vertically and shot at the enemy's open belly blowing it completely up and making it disappear without a single trace of it being ever there left behind, although some burning parts still fell around the base and beyond. "Clearly the repairs of the weapon's systems are going well" Carlos thought to himself as he chuckled. A few seconds laters the Night Huntress followed suit and blew the downed remnants of the first City Destroyer, ending the first attack on the Marte 1 base.

"All Fighters return to land and prepare for a possible round 2" Mendvedev said over the radio. Those words however were spoken without the Knowledge that the battle of Mars had come to an end.

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General Mendvedev observed on the screen as the alien ships began to move on the red planets a few seconds after the two City Destroyers were completely obliterated. It was clear that the enemy was done playing and that they were ready to end the battle now. The russian general gritted his teeth as he checked what they had to repell this all out attack. He stopped himself, whatever he had it was not enough. It's fighter forces had been obliterated on all other bases and severely damaged on this front. His men at the other bases were hidden on the Security bunkers awaiting his instructions to come out but it was definitely too late to completely evacuate Marte one. He'd had some of the personnel he'd deemed not essential for the defense of the base already at the refuge but most of them were still outside.

"Sir" One of the operators reported. "More ships are entering Mars's orbit."

Mendvedev looked at the operator and then at the clock. It was supposedly more than an hour early for their reinforcements to arrive, but could it be? Slowly he turned towards the screen again hoping that their salvation had come.


	15. Chapter 14: New Arrivals

Well Finally Chapter 14 is here! I know it has been an awfully long time since I updated this story and for that I'm sorry to all of you! Believe me when I say that I wanted to update, but after my leg got better I experienced a kind of writer's block with this story leaving this chapter unfinished and I just couldn't finish it because I wasn't happy with the way it was looking to the point that this chapter has been completely rewritten just this week. However it was never my intention to abandon this story and luckily the block has been overcome so here is the New Chapter I hope you enjoy!

For the Reviews:

Guest: I'm sorry you've had to wait this long I hope you can forgive the late Update. I will try to update more regularly, I'll try to make it biweekly again, but I promise nothing. Thank you for your Patience and for the "Get well soon" review

Dr White: Thank for your review and for showing concern about my leg. I'm really glad you like the story and I hope you'll continue to read it. Don't worry it's not my intention to drop it.

.31: I'm glad you read the prologue I hope you liked the rest of the story as well.

Xahraxs: Your Idea wouldn't have been a bad way to use the City Destroyer but do not worry, the City Destroyers are amazing but the Ancient Battleship is and will be even more amazing

 **Chapter 14: New Arrivals**

It had been a while since Mendvedev had actually lost faith in the way the battle was going for them. Just like his comrades in Rhea he thought for a few moments he was sure the Martian Base was done for. But it seemed that he and the men, women of the ESD and aliens from the Resistance staying there would live to fight another day. Looking at the radars and screens that showed the enemy fleet blockading the planet what he saw brought a big relieved smile to his face. Several ships, some of them similar to the Night Huntress that was landed on his base, some others were just bigger and some others completely different.

From some of the largest ships on the incoming fleet several smaller ships, surely fighters, came out. The form reminded him of one of the American stealth bombers, the B-2 "Spirit, but this fighters were smaller and a different color, metallic grey.

"Shall we report this to the rest of the base?" An operator relief clear on her face as well asked him and Mendvedev nodded. "Do we scramble the Fighters to help our allies?"

"It doesn't seem they need our help, and we've suffered enough casualties as it is." Mendvedev replied and the operator nodded proceeding to report the situation to all hands at the base as well as the rest of the bases.

None of the operators asked him any more questions as they all were entranced by the image of their allies engaged in battle against the Harvester fleet. The surprise brought about by the arrival of the new fleet could be felt in the way the Colony Ship, City Destroyers, Fighters and Attackers took some time to react to the attack something the Resistance fleet took great advantage of, destroying three city destroyers before the Harvester fleet could reorganize at prepare a new defense against the newcomers. However it seemed that it didn't matter, the Resistance fleet's furious attack continued to deal huge amounts of damage to the enemy and Mendvedev could tell that it was because the Resistance fighters' determination to end the Swarm beings.

Such determination had surely been felt by the enemy leader since after just 20 minutes of battle and several casualties inflicted by the Resistance the Colony ship and City destroyers began to try to retreat their earlier intentions of the destroying the humans in the red planet below. Then he saw the relief on his subordinates faces. He also admired how their allies didn't let their victory distract them, not until the enemy was either fully routed or destroyed. It took about fifteen minutes more of hard fought battle until the enemy left the system.

It was then that the room erupted into cheers and an operator reported it to the rest of the base. Mendvedev smiled, it seemed that the Martian base's personnel would live to fight at least another time. The communication's operator looked at the General.

"Sir we have a transmission from the allied command ship, they said their leader Admiral Marduk is coming down to the Planet." The operator reported.

"A shuttle is coming down from the allied fleet towards us sir" The Radar operator confirmed.

"Inform the Prophet." Mendvedev told the operators. "I will go and greet our guests."

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As the allied shuttle landed several meters in front of them Mendvedev looked at the Prophet. The Round Metallic Sphere had warned that the leader of the allied fleet, Admiral Marduk, was a very proud Orwegian warrior not above showing contempt for those he considered unworthy. Taking into account that the Prophet was favoring the human race it was likely that and that the Admiral was the Orwegian Leader's younger brother the Prophet had warned him that he should not expect an attitude like that of Zarhok, his respect was almost impossible to get even for the worthiest of races, it had said. For the sake of diplomacy and unity within the Resistance the Prophet had asked him to deal with him patiently and let it do most of the talking. It had also asked Mendvedev to keep the Harvester being a secret for the time being.

"Under the condition that you let me interrogate it before you depart for Earth." Mendvedev had said. "I won't have that thing reaching Earth if I have the slightest doubt of where do its true loyalties lay."

"It's understandable General." The Prophet had agreed to the terms. "As I told you I also wanted to interrogate him again soon it's in everyone's interest that this Harvester being can be trusted." It added and the general had nodded in agreement glad that the Prophet and him were on the same page at least on that matter

The sound of the shuttle's ramp descending and touching the ground snapped Mendvedev out of his thoughts as a group of aliens dressed in suits and with helmets that would allow them to breathe appeared. The color was the same as Captain Miradine and the rest of the Resistance Fighters.

"Welcome to Mars" Mendvedev spoke courtly. "On behalf of every men and woman stationed on this post I would like to thank you for your assistance."

The Orwegian ignored the human as he thought the General was not worth talking to, instead he began speaking with the Prophet without translator on making it only possible for the Orwegians in his group, which were most of them, except a less tall much thinner woman, most likely Miradine's sister and a small group of members of only Resistance members.

" **I have to say I didn't want to go out of our way but I was curious to see how the race you put so much confidence in was. Then again Karadine threatened to report to the council my refusal to come to your aid after your repeated calls for it, it seems you and your pets have gotten lucky this time."** The Orwegian began to say. **"They are certainly not fit to join the Resistance much less lead it like you seem to be hoping they will."**

" **My judgement is not wrong Marduk. Even if it was, this is not the place not the time to discuss it"** The Prophet chastised the Orwegian warrior. **"You have arrived to one of the planets of another species and it is unbecoming of someone as noble as you claim to be not to greet them at least."**

Marduk turned his attention towards Mendvedev who was talking courtly with Captain Karadine. The Princess had a small smile on her face and was handling the diplomatic greetings really well, but in the end he knew that the Prophet was right and that he should at least greet the man before him and let the princess know her place. He had been the one assigned by the council to lead the mission and he should be the one

"I am Marduk, leader of the fleet that has just saved you and your people" he spoke making sure the contempt he felt for humanity was crystal clear. General Mendvedev observed the Orwegian.

"Thanks for the help" The General said trying to concentrate on the fact that the alien had indeed saved him and not the tone of his words. "Do you wish your ships to land so that we can make any of the necessary repairs after the battle?"

"It won't be necessary we just want to escort the Night Huntress and be on our way to your planet." The General spoke simply. "When will the ship be ready?"

"We are conducting repairs on both the Night Huntress and the ancient Battleship, it will take a while." The Prophet replied.

"That battleship is different that your previous ship" Marduk merely observed, "I will send some people to speed the repairs up."

"This ship's primary purpose was different than my previous, plus the other one was more modern" The Prophet explained. "As for the repairs It will be sufficient with the personnel I already have working on it, people from the base and the Night Huntress' crew thanks for the offer."

"How long will the repairs take with the personnel you already have working on the ships? I refuse to stay on this Dustball more than it is necessary." Marduk replied.

"Then perhaps you should go on ahead with the rest of the fleet sir." Karadine spoke. "My crew and I will remain here with our ship until the repairs on both the Prophet's ship and the Night Huntress are done."

The Orwegian looked at the Natrolean princess and then at the human and the Prophet. Finally he nodded. "You do that. There are many things to do once I arrive on Earth and I can't afford to waste time on one of its colonies." He then looked at Mendvedev. "If you and your men had any pride as warriors you would have died fighting until no soldier remained standing. Although I suppose I should be glad of your uselessness thanks to it I've been able to enjoy a brief battle with the enemy, letting them taste the fury of the Orwegian race." With that, Marduk turned around and left followed by several members of the Resistance, most of them Orwegians.

"Well I can't say it was a pleasure meeting him" Mendvedev said.

"Marduk is a proud member of the Orwegian species, some people might say that he is too proud, to the point that he looks down on every member of the Resistance that is not Orwegian" The Princess replied before she looked at the Prophet. "It's very good to see you again I was dismayed to learn of what happened to your first ship." She spoke with the same respect and even reverence.

"Thank you Princess Karadine." The Prophet spoke.

"Of course my crew and I will be very happy to help with the repairs of both the Night Huntress and the Ancient Battleship although I want to know something first.

"What is it?" The Prophet asked.

"What does it seem you were hiding something from the Admiral?" The princess asked, there were no accusations on her voice just simple curiosity. If the Prophet could smile outwardly it would, even without using their truth seeing abilities the Natroleans were without a doubt a perceptive species.

"Come with us Princess. There is someone we want you to meet." It said as it began to move towards the Ancient Battleship with the Admiral and the Princess in tow.

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Miradine rejoined the members of the Legendary and Scorpion squadrons after the battle. They all seemed to be uninjured and the Princess was glad because of it. She scanned her human friends and smiled noticing that none of them were really hurt or killed even if the battle of Mars had brought many casualties for the Harvester aliens it had certainly not been an easy one on anyone.

"I'm glad to see that you are all fine." She said as she approached the group.

"You too" Dylan replied. "I have to say without the support of the base's main guns, the Night Huntress and the Ancient Battleship we would have been killed during the battle."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance." Miradine spoke sincerely.

"But the Resistance Fleet have been the true saviors of the day" Jake said and Charlie nodded enthusiastically.

"You will be able to thank one of the leaders of said Fleet when you see her I believe my sister has gone with the General and the Prophet to meet the Harvester Being that is on the Ancient Battleship."

"Your sister" Troy asked. "She is here already? Why aren't you going to greet her? You guys must have not seen each other in a while right?"

"We will see each other later. She is with the Prophet and General Mendvedev, probably being introduced to our "friend"" She replied.

"What about the Orwegian who lead the fleet? Are they going to show the Harvester being to him as well?" Charlie said.

"Didn't you hear the Prophet? It didn't like the idea of the said Orwegian learning about what we found on the Ancient Battleship." Rain reminded her boyfriend.

"But he will learn about it eventually. That we have found a Harvester being and that we think it means us or the Resistance no harm." Patricia said

"Admiral Marduk is far less reasonable than general Zarhok." Miradine said. "I believe that if Sortum, that's this swarm being's name, is an ally the Prophet would only let Marduk know about the Swarm being when it thinks Marduk won't harm him. I believe the Prophet will even talk with General Mitchell before it reveals the truth to Marduk, plus it is possible Marduk will be already gone when we reach Earth. If I'm correct he will probably think you humans are not worth his time he will want to spend as little time as possible on your planet."

"Wow that Marduk is a bigger ass than Mitchell?" Charlie asked and Carlos glared at him. "What? It's true General Mitchell is an ass!" the young pilot defended.

"True as it may be he is still your superior so I recommend you don't take to call him that in Public. You will be caught eventually" Carlos said.

"Yes sir" Charlie said and the members of both squadrons laughed at his chastised expression. Miradine however seemed lost in thought and didn't join in the laughter.

"What's the matter?"

"It's just, some of the prediction or counsel the Harvester Being told us didn't help us much." Miradine said. "It seems the General and the Prophet seem to be doubting that he is truly an ally and the Prophet told me the General wanted to interrogate him again."

"Well he has been asleep for many years it is not weird that his species has learnt a trick or two in his absence. I can understand why they would want to interrogate him again." Dylan told her while Troy was able to realize what was bugging his friend.

"Even if he has lied to us don't you go thinking it is your fault" Troy said. "I mean it was the first time you interrogated one of its kind."

"But if he was lying and I failed to see it…" Miradine tried to argue.

"Look this is a war, the casualties suffered during this battle are not your fault." Rain told the princess kindly.

"And you wouldn't be the first one to be fooled by an enemy agent either." Dylan assured her. "So stop thinking like that."

"If you so wish we could go to the Ancient Battleship and see how the second interrogation goes." Troy said. "I mean I don't think you are trying to stop blaming yourself no matter what we say." He added as he realized there was some relief on Miradine's face but that she still clearly felt responsible. "But you are blaming yourself before you know the truth, perhaps he didn't really know what the Swarm, the Harvester beings, would do." He explained and Miradine nodded as she and the group began to walk towards the Ancient Battleship.

Just as they reached the exterior of base's hangars with everyone putting their helmets back on they observed as a frigate almost identical to the Night Huntress was landing at the other side of the Ancient Battleship.

"Just one ship?" Isabel asked. "And the rest of the fleet?"

"They are probably on route to Earth by now." The princess told the pilots. "That's the "Spirit of Natrole", my sister's ship." She explained. "She will remain here until we go back to Earth."

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After a brief explanation to Princess Karadine about the Harvester being found on the ship who they believed to be an ally, which explained perfectly why they didn't want Admiral Marduk or his subordinates near the Ancient Battleship for the time being. She also agreed to help them determine if Sortum had been lying to them or not although it was clear from her face that she was determined to point out even the smallest lie on the Harvester being's story and that she wasn't pleased with the possibility of a Harvester being actually being an ally.

" **Sortum"** The Prophet spoke as it, General Mendvedev and Princess Karadine entered the room the Harvester being was at. **"We have to talk."**

" **I sense you have pushed my race out of this Planet's orbit. It seems I underestimated your abilities."** Sortum spoke calmly. **"It seems you left your other companion elsewhere. These two are new faces"** he added. **"The female's eyes are similar to those of your previous companion though. They shine as bright as hers."**

" **We shot the enemy Fighter Ships like you recommended."** The Prophet said not bothering to introduce the Princess and the General. **"But it seemed to be a trap."**

" **And you wonder if I lead you into that trap. The answer is no."** Sortum replied simply. The Harvester being was not angry at the accusation and didn't seem nervous that the Prophet and his allies suspected him. **"I didn't do it, I've got no reason to do so."** He argued. **"My race considers me a traitor, they will eliminate me whether I help them now or not."**

The Prophet looking at Karadine, the younger Natrolean Princess' power weren't as powerful as those of her sister, Miradine's truth seeing powers were powerful enough that they could be considered unique even amongst the Natroleans, but they were not weak either, and so far like her sister before her she seemed to think that the Harvester being was telling the truth.

" **Then you didn't know that the Fighters they sent down to scout were just a part from their plan and that when they were shot down, some kinds of terrestrial mini robots came out of their remains to conduct reconnaissance on our bases?"** Mendvedev asked.

" **I was aware of the possibility of them using the devices"** The being admitted. **"Back when I served the Swarm it was really rare for us to use it though. And the terrestrial reconnaissance devices you speak of were normally deployed from a city destroyer launched via pods towards the surface of our target planet. Definitely not from the burning remains of a Fighter or an Attacker"**

"He speaks the truth" Karadine told the Prophet and the General. "Like my sister I cannot find a single proof that he has deceived you."

" **At least your other companion had the decency to make sure I understood her when she spoke."** Sortum said in an offended manner and the Princess glared at the Harvester being.

" **I'm sorry"** Karadine spoke in a manner that the Harvester Being could understand **"I said it's very likely that you are telling the truth."**

" **Lying to you is not to my benefit, so I'd rather not do so"** Sortum replied matter-of-factly.

" **Thank you for answering our questions Sortum."** The Prophet spoke as it turned around to leave the room with the Princess and and the General following her along with the guards usually posted outside that had entered with them. Once they had left the room where the Harvester being was confined the General looked at Karadine.

"Are you sure he is telling the truth?" He asked still having his own doubts.

"Like I'm sure my sister pointed out to you, we've got no experience trying to discern the truth when talking with a Harvester being." Karadine replied. "Still I believe he is not lying."

"See Miradine you were not wrong" Troy's voice sounded as the General, Karadine and the Prophet noticed the older Natrolean Princess approaching them with the members of Legendary and Scorpion squadrons in tow.

"It's good to see you Mira" Karadine greeted her older sister and the older princess nodded and smiled at her.

"You too Kara" Miradine replied. "So you have not been able to see any lies in the Harvester being's story"

"No" Karadine admitted making her sister sigh in relief.

"See I told you it was possible the Harvester girl wasn't lying" Troy spoke prompting Karadine to look at the group of people who were with her sister

"Who are they?" She asked curiously, it was clear her sister had a good relation with the group, they seemed to be her friends which was weird because she had rarely seen her sister interact that way with members of other races and maybe not even with other members of her race either, her older sister was normally all business after all.

"They are the member of Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons, two of the best Fighter Squadrons the human have amongst their ranks.

"I see pleased to make your acquaintance" Karadine spoke "I'm Karadine, Princess of Natrole and Miradine's younger sister."

"How much younger?" Charlie asked prompting some glares from almost every female around him. "I'm just asking because she does not seem all that much younger…" He added making it worse and yelped in pain as his girlfriend stepped on his foot to stop him from screwing things up any further. Karadine chuckled, she could immediately see why her sister liked this kind of people, or at least found them curious enough to stick around them.

"I'm her younger twin sister" Karadine replied prompting the others to smile. The Prophet and the General observed the exchange in silence until Karadine noticed them again. "I wish we could talk more but I did promise my crew would help with the repairs on the Night Huntress and this ship, I should be getting to the Spirit of Natrole to give my orders."

"I should also go back to the Night Huntress" Miradine said "To oversee the repairs." She agreed.

"Well when you both are done we will be by the base's mess hall if you want to join us." Troy said and Karadine didn't miss the small blush that crept up her sister's face as this man spoke, it seemed she was interested in him in a way other than a friend. She smiled inwardly as she thought of the endless possibilities of teasing this new development brought. "Is that ok sir?" Troy then asked the General who nodded.

"You and the rest of the pilots deserve a good rest after the battle." The General admitted "But would it be alright if we asked you go on a last mission before you do rest? I would like you to escort the transports I will send to the rest of the bases to pick up the survivors. I am aware that it's unlikely we will find any Harvester Attacker or Fighters but still, I would like the survivors to make it here in one piece if there are."

"No problem sir" Carlos said. "We will do it. Just tell us when the transports are ready."

"We will see you after the mission then" Troy told the princess as he began to walk away from the Princesses, the Prophet and the General with the rest of the squadrons.

As Karadine observed the Fighter pilots walk away she chuckled as she heard Charlie comment on how easygoing she seemed compared to the first time they saw her sister only to be slapped on the back of the head by Rain. She had to say, she didn't know yet if the humans were the race of saviors the Prophet seemed to think they were but one thing was for certain they were not a boring race.

"We should go as well." Miradine told her reminding her of their duties, and nodding to the general and the Prophet as goodbye both princesses walked away to continue with their duty.

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Independence Day)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

David stood besides Mitchell, Rodrigo, Okun, Zarhok and ambassador Baasch as Secretary Johnson heard the report of the recently ended battle of Mars. He had to say that while the Secretary had been angry at the beginning of the conversation since he had not been informed about the battle and only of the retrieval of the Ancient ship and the skirmish with the city destroyers on Titan Bob had had the patience to listen without interrupting when he had been informed of why Rodrigo had made the decision not to inform anyone and the measures he had taken to make sure than in any case the Earth and the ESD would be prepared for any eventuality that could put the security of the Planet at risk.

"Well" the secretary general spoke as everyone looked at the screen in the control room where his face was. "It seems that in any case you were prudent enough General Quesada. However as a while as a former military officer I understand why you did what you did what you did you must understand that as a politician I like to know what my subordinates are doing from them and not other sources.

"Sir, I believe General Quesada was not wrong in what he did, even if I, myself, would perhaps have liked to be informed of the situation I believe he handled it well." Mitchell said. He had been strangely supportive of Rodrigo's actions and David couldn't help but think that the General was perhaps rethinking his way of doing things and of being a commander officer, he wondered if their discussion about his apparent disregard for his subordinates' lives after retrieving the ship had anything to do with it. If they had managed to make think about what he had been doing wrong as a commanding officer not only the previous day but since he arrived at the ESDHQ.

"Do not worry General I won't ask you to punish him, It's just that the next time I would like to be informed of ESD bases under attack from the ESD and not the one of the members of the Security Council." Bob said. "You said that the Resistance Fleet is on the way to Earth after helping during the battle?"

"They have reported to be on their way, they should be here soon. They've left one ship behind to escort the Ancient Battleship together with the Night Huntress on the way towards Earth" Mitchell replied.

"Do you think they will let us keep the Ship you retrieved?" The Secretary General asked. "After all from the briefing about the operation I and the Security Council got it seems we've relied on them too much for the retrieval of the ship and had their aid has been vital on Mars as well.

"I believe the Resistance's High Council will adhere to whatever the Prophet wishes to do about the ship without much protest. Although I suppose will not be happy that Captain Miradine and I participated on the operation without informing them properly" Zarhok replied.

"I'm sorry about that General" Bob replied. "I hope we have not gotten you in too much trouble with your superiors."

"In the end it was for a good cause secretary general, Humanity is now a part of the Resistance and their acquisition of the ship is in the end beneficial for our cause." Zarhok said dismissively "Most of them anyway."

The Secretary General nodded. "It certainly will help our common cause. Dr Okun I trust that the Prophet and you yourself will involucrate yourselves in the study of this ship so that we will be able to incorporate some of its technology to improve our future Space Navy."

"Of course, Mr Secretary" Okun replied. "I can only speak for myself but I believe the Prophet will agree to help us, after all the study of the ship was one of the purposes of the mission."

"Mr Secretary, there is also the issue of the damages to the Martian Bases." David said. "We've yet to receive the report but I don't think most of the bases came out of this battle intact."

"What you are saying is?" The Secretary General asked.

"I know that the Chinese are in the middle of completing the construction of a group of Space Dreadnoughts to send towards Mars and the Moon. I suggest we prioritize the repairs of the bases around Mars for now an."

"I agree with Director Levinson" Mitchell said surprising David who despite Mitchell's attitude during the whole meeting, composed and without shouting or offending anyone and even supportive of his subordinate, had expected the General to disagree just because it was David's plan

"They are not going to like it, they still consider the Bases on the Moon their Bases even if the personnel is all ESD personnel and they will be controlled by the ESD but I'll see what I can do." The Secretary General said

"Thank you sir" David said still giving Mitchell a sideways glance and wondering if the General was really on the path to change.

"Not a problem Director" Bob replied. "Are you ready for your little trip ambassador?" He then asked looking at Ambassador Baasch.

"I am sir. I will represent the interest of humanity as well as I can." The Ambassador replied.

"Then I can rest assured, you are one of our best diplomats I've ever known after all." The Secretary General said with a chuckle before something off screen got his attention and the voice of an assistant reminding him of another meeting sounded in the background. "Well gentlemen I will leave you to your job now." He said as the screen cut to black leaving the group of men and the alien staring at it.

"Does humanity have space Dreadnaughts?" Zarhok asked, his voice clearly showing that he didn't like not knowing of the fact before and the fact that they had seemingly lied to him when they told him that the only large ships Humanity had were shuttles and that they could spare no ships for the mission. A dreadnaught would have helped a lot after all.

"We had, China developed them during the time between the Wars of '96 and 2016, we haven't seen one in a while though. Those dreadnaughts are construction ships China discontinued their production shortly before the war, in fact I heard the Russians protested the move a lot since that decision affected the speed over which they could build their base in Jupiter which wasn't finished when the Chinese made such a move. I had no idea they were building those again, they've certainly not been used much after the war.

"They weren't, they've began to build them again just recently" Mitchell was the one to reply and that was enough for Zarhok to accept that his human allies had not lied to him, from what he was hearing it seemed that some of them didn't even know such ships still existed plus it seemed such ships were still under construction. "I didn't know you were aware of that Director Levinson."

"The head of the ESD in China told me, he also told me that they were looking at creating a militarized version for combat in space. At your request of Johnson's I suppose" Levinson replied, his tone was not accusatory but certainly it showed he wasn't pleased that, like the Secretary general about the battle of Mars, he had not been informed of this by the people working with him that knew about the ships.

Mitchell however didn't say anything and didn't apologize, Okun was in fact the one to speak next, Okun who seemed to be on his own world something that had happened often when he'd begun working at Area 51 and prior to his 20 year coma.

"Space Dreadnaughts that sounds so cool" He muttered more to himself than the rest.


End file.
